Kilo Two Zero
by Soul Reaver
Summary: A story about an eight man covert operations team from another dimension joining forces with Red Witch's Misfits fighting COBRA's alliance with a relentless foe known as the Heartless. Up next Zarana defects to GI Joe bearing bad news....Please R
1. Compromised

Compromised  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men Evolution, GI Joe, Kingdom Hearts, or Titan AE franchises in this fanfic. The Misfits are Red Witch's creation, not my own, thanks for letting me use them. Be patient, the Misfits will appear soon when Kilo Two Zero's mission goes to hell.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Captain Fetterman?" Major Sanford said, "Your mission is good to go, but I must question the list of men you chose."  
  
"What's this all about sir?" Fetterman said.  
  
"Six of the seven on the team are good but I dare say number seven's just asking for trouble." Sanford replied.  
  
"You mean Corporal Martin Bilby." Fetterman said, "With all due respect sir, he's a capable operator."  
  
"Was a capable operator Fetterman. Make no mistake, he's a borderline Section Eight." Sanford said, "Ever since the Titan mission he hasn't been himself."  
  
"Sir, with all respects I think Bilby is still cable of operating." Fetterman replied.  
  
"Mike, I trust your judgment on this one. Your patrol order is good to go."  
  
"Yes sir." Fetterman replied.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Hey Stoney, is Bilby still going with us?" Specialist Dave Morgan asked his pal, Specialist Stoney Brown, as he packed his M-16 with M203 grenade launcher attachment and his web gear.  
  
The seven men were clad in desert fatigues and were arraying equipment out to prepare for their mission. Dave was skinny, physically fit fellow with curly brown hair and a nerd's disposition. His fellow nerd at arms was another enigmatic nineteen year old named Stoney Brown.  
  
Stoney's had long curly hair and a passion for '60s and '70s music. He was a SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) gunner and a damn good one at that. He always wore a headband at all times, even when he slept and now was no exception as he tied a desert khaki one across his forehead.  
  
Link was another SAW gunner, he was an avid skier and mountaineer from Estonia. He was stuffing more ammo into his pouches. "Hey, so Bilby's going with us?"  
  
"Yeah." Stoney replied.  
  
"Great, our resident psychopath is watching our backs." Dave groaned as he put his black stocking cap on his head.  
  
"Shut the fuck up Dave." Corporal Andrew Whitehurst, their communications guy, a man who was exceptionally thin and wiry with thick glasses. He wore contact lenses for every mission, "It's almost impossible for anyone to have survived an op like the Titan Mission without being knocked to fucking hell emotionally."  
  
"Hey fuck you Whitehurst." Dave replied.  
  
"Shut the hell up both of you." Sergeant "Ramjet" Rumpler, "We all know Bilby went through hell and back, we don't need to antagonize him about it."  
  
"Yes Sarge." Dave replied.  
  
Their seventh and eighth guys on the team were SAW gunner Tallman Palmer, a short Caribbean mulatto and the subject of the conversation, Corporal Martin Bilby, the team sniper.  
  
Both men had their belt kits on and Tallman was walking to the other five guys assembled, waiting for Captain Fetterman to show up. Only Bilby sat on his cot at the FOB (Forward Operating Base). He too wore his belt kit, with his telescope sighted L1A1 Self Loading Rifle slung over his shoulder and holding his peaked Afrika Korps field cap in his hands. He was a medium built fellow with a grown in shaved head and a clean shaven face, about twenty one years old. Most of these operators were in their early to mid twenties. All were self assured, highly motivated veteran soldiers who had served together on numerous special operations assignments across the many dimensions of the multiverse.  
  
"Captain on the floor!" Sergeant Rumpler shouted.  
  
"At ease." Captain Fetterman replied, "Alright, you received the brief earlier, but here's the sketch. The Heartless have supposedly started operating in a recently discovered dimension. Our job is to observe their activity and keep Central Command posted on what's going on. Our rules of engagement are thus: Do not fire unless we are compromised. Our insertion platform is a Chinook helicopter into the desert about two hundred miles to the south of the installation locals of this dimension call the Slaughterhouse. Terrain is desert terrain, with a few gullies as LUPs (Lay up Points). Assume possible Heartless infestation, and very likely collaboration with the villains of this dimension, an organization called COBRA or something like that."  
  
"Man how hokey can you get? What kinda name is COBRA? Sounds like a cycle gang." Stoney remarked.  
  
"Just 'cause they got a stupid name don't men they're not dangerous." Tallman said.  
  
"Alright boys, lets move out." Fetterman said.  
  
Music was always perpetually playing in the FOB over various personal stereo systems. A favorite pre-mission song played by Charlie Squadron, 2 Troop of the Gamma Unit was Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child (Slight Return).  
  
"Well, I stand up next to a mountain. And I chop it down with the edge of my hand."  
  
The men stepped aboard the Chinook to the words of Jimi Hendrix as the aft cargo door closed. They walked under 210 lbs of equipment in their bergens (field packs).  
  
"Well, I stand up next to a mountain. Chop it down with the edge of my hand." They waved cheerily at the other personnel on the FOB, at the mechanics and soldiers walking below.  
  
"Well, I pick up all the pieces and make an island. Might even raise just a little sand.  
  
'Cause I'm a voodoo child." The lyrics at last faded as the pilots started up the bird and flew into the dimension in question.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
The helicopter landed the eight men on a landscape that was flatter than the top of table. "Damn, the terrain is more barren than we anticipated." Rumpler groaned.  
  
"Let's find us a hideout." Fetterman replied, indicating a gully.  
  
The men stayed hidden, observing the ground, staying at the LOP during the day and moving at night. Silence and stealth were absolutely imperative, but if the team were compromised it had enough firepower between them to give their opposition a heck of a lot to think of.  
  
"See anything?" Fetterman asked Bilby.  
  
"No sir." Bilby whispered back. Fetterman turned his back when Bilby replied, "Wait, sir, I hold movement, a civilian of this dimension, a little girl."  
  
"Out in the middle of the desert. Bilby, take her out!" Dave shouted.  
  
"Dave, she's a fucking kid!" Bilby replied.  
  
"She'll give us away! Shoot her! Shoot her!" Dave shouted.  
  
"She's getting close to our position sir." Rumpler replied.  
  
"What the hell are you waiting for Bilby? Shoot her now!" Dave shouted.  
  
"Morgan shut up!" Rumpler hissed.  
  
"She's turning around sir. Doesn't look like she's seen us." Bilby replied.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
That assessment proved to be incorrect. "Sir, we've got company, a lot of it." Tallman said.  
  
Fetterman put up his binoculars. "Shit!"  
  
"I hold a COBRA Hiss tank and two trucks full of personnel, closing right for us, fast." Tallman said.  
  
"Damn it!" Fetterman shouted, "Get those 66 rockets up, take out that tank and those trucks and get ready to hotfoot it out of this place. We'll retreat towards the Slaughterhouse, we've got no choice now, since we've been compromised."  
  
"Whitehurst, Morgan, ready with those rockets." Rumpler shouted.  
  
"Fire!" shouted Fetterman as the Hiss tank and trucks disgorged a group of COBRA soldiers and a number of Heartless, at least 200 troops.  
  
Whitehurst hit the tank in the tracks, knocking out the vehicle's ability to maneuver, however it's machinegun was still working.  
  
"Shit!" Fetterman shouted, "We are out of here!"  
  
"Tallman. Bilby cover our ass! When we're clear, Whitehurst, you and Link do the same."  
  
Tallman and Bilby were already firing at the mass of enemy troops, at least 300 Heartless drones and COBRA vipers charged them with the Hiss tank's main gun and machineguns firing.  
  
Tallman fired his machinegun in three and five round bursts, being careful with his ammunition. Bilby took aim with his customized telescopic rifle, every shot killing or severely wounding an enemy fighter.  
  
Whitehurst tapped them on the shoulder. "Go! We've got your backs!"  
  
Link was shooting steadily with accurate three and five round bursts from his SAW. A COBRA machinegun nest was shooting uncomfortably close to the rest of the patrol. Whitehurst put two 40mm grenades from the 203 grenade launched bolted to the barrel of his M-16. The machinegun stopped shooting.  
  
Fetterman was already organizing the next pair to go and fire. Stoney and Dave were up firing next while the rest of the patrol fled behind some rocky outcroppings. As they covered the six men of the patrol behind a boulder, Whitehurst was trying to communicate.  
  
"This is Kilo Two Zero! We are compromised! Repeat! We are compromised!" Whitehurst shouted.  
  
"Whitehurst! Calm down and annunciate." Fetterman replied.  
  
"Yes sir." Whitehurst replied.  
  
"This is Kilo Two Zero to Black Cat. Compromised, need extraction. Repeat. Compromised, need extraction." Whitehurst replied. "Sir, the radio's down!"  
  
"Keep trying Whitehurst." Fetterman replied.  
  
Bilby adjusted his peaked German Afrika Korps field cap on his head and fired a 66mm rocket down range. "Fuck you!" he shouted towards the truck full of Heartless.  
  
Dave put another 40mm grenade into the engine block and the truck exploded in a massive fireball that threw charred corpses of Heartless drones all over the desert floor. The eight men reloaded their weapons at Fetterman's command; Bilby knew he had at least ten rounds left out of a twenty round clip.  
  
"Good shooting boys!" Rumpler said and exchanged quick high fives with Dave and Bilby.  
  
"Kinda busy Sarge!" Bilby shouted, putting a bullet through the skull of another Heartless.  
  
"Captain that tank's getting ready to shoot!" Bilby shouted as he saw the COBRA gunners turning the tank's big 75mm gun towards them.  
  
"Scatter and rendezvous at point.." Fetterman shouted when the shell exploded into the rocks separating Tallman, Whitehurst and Bilby from the rest of the team.  
  
"Shit!" Whitehurst yelled and tried to run over the dune that they had rolled over.  
  
"Whitehurst stay down! They've got their own shit to worry about! We stick to the plan and head for the Slaughterhouse! Tallman cover us!" Bilby shouted.  
  
"Roger!" Tallman shouted and fired steadily at the group of Heartless drones that decided to pursue.  
  
"Fuck you all!" Bilby shouted, taking up his own firing, shooting down four of them with as many bullets from his rifle. Tallman and Whitehurst were reloading further to his rear.  
  
Bilby drew his .45 handgun and started shooting more rounds as he ran behind a boulder, reloading his L1A1 rifle as Whitehurst provided covering fire. "God damn 5.56 ammo!" Whitehurst groaned. His rifle was firing the green tip carbide round, capable of piercing light armor. Unfortunately that same penetrating ability meant that his bullets were going right through the Heartless drones and unless it hit the brain or spinal column it wouldn't take them down with one shot. They used to kid Martin Bilby because he shunned the M-16/CAR-15 weapons and instead preferred to carry a customized semiautomatic L1A1 Self Loading Rifle. Whitehurst belatedly believed that Bilby was easily the smartest soldier in the unit, sure his rifle was heavy and dealt mean recoil but it took down Heartless drones with single shots and in combat, one good shot was all you got.  
  
"Tallman, you're up!" Whitehurst shouted after he jumped over a boulder, his rifle out of ammunition.  
  
"You're good to go!" Tallman shouted and kept firing his SAW in short, highly accurate bursts, again using no more than three to five rounds per burst.  
  
Once Whitehurst had gotten to cover behind Bilby, Tallman pelted to another piece of cover with Bilby picking up the slack, his first bullet drilling another Heartless drone through the skull.  
  
"Any more of them?" Whitehurst shouted.  
  
"They're all down!" Bilby shouted.  
  
"Hot damn!" Whitehurst shouted, "There were at least forty of those bastards after us. We killed them all?"  
  
"Yeah." Bilby shouted, his head poking above the rocks, "If there were any alive, I'd be dead right now!"  
  
"We're gonna have to drop our packs." Tallman said, "We're too heavy and those Heartless and COBRAs are on our asses like bees to honey. I don't expect this to last."  
  
"That's right." Bilby said, joining Whitehurst and Tallman, "Get all the stuff were gonna need out of the bergens and let's get the hell out."  
  
"Wait!" Whitehurst said, as he handed out ammo, food, and extra water which they crammed into their belt kits. "Let's give those bastards a big surprise."  
  
"I like your thinking Whitehurst." Bilby replied as Whitehurst laid several proximity mines with a couple 40 mm grenades around the bergens as he left them out in the open.  
  
Already a follow-up COBRA patrol was closing. With hand signals, Bilby indicated them to grab cover and freeze.  
  
None too soon, for a man wearing an eye patch accompanied by at least twenty Range Vipers was picking his way among the corpses of dead Heartless.  
  
"And these chaps are supposedly our allies that have subjugated hundreds of worlds." Major Bludd laughed with contempt as he saw forty corpses, many of them killed with one or two shots. The beings with mysterious glowing eyes that were obscured by strange metal helmets who wore a strange seal that looked like a crossed out heart were formidable, but their enemy must be even more so if these formidable troops that dispatched BATs effectively were all lying killed in the middle of the desert.  
  
Little did Major Bludd know that their enemy consisted of three hunkered down Gamma unit soldiers, highly trained but outnumbered, outgunned, and totally isolated. Right now he had to assume there was a large group, because Copperhead, who had survived the trucks being blown up and the Hiss tank being shot claimed that they were fighting a platoon sized element.  
  
"There's only three of them idiot." Major Bludd said as he saw three rucksacks lying out in the open.  
  
"Range viper, check that out." Major Bludd ordered.  
  
The Range Viper and two others moved the packs only to be blown up by several explosives. Three more were wounded by shards of flying metal.  
  
"Fire! Fire! Everybody now! Now!" Bilby shouted.  
  
Tallman provided a base of fire with his SAW while Whitehurst fired a couple 203 grenades down range with Bilby shooting a Range Viper through his head. Using leapfrog firing, Tallman ran back over a hill with Bilby covering him and followed up with Whitehurst picking up slack.  
  
"Damn it!" Major Bludd cursed as he saw twelve Vipers, including the three that were blown up by the booby trap.  
  
"Regroup and pursuit." Major Bludd ordered, "Call for reinforcements."  
  
"That won't be necessary." Said a harsh mechanical voice.  
  
A Heartless drone standing five feet tall and cradling a KF-7 assault rifle said, "My troops will help your men."  
  
At least thirty more of them were standing around. "I told you any opposition the humans from our dimension would send could be formidable."  
  
"They've already killed a large number of our people." Major Bludd said. "Conservatively your vaunted Heartless have lost forty men chasing three soldiers with small arms in this canyon alone."  
  
"All told, we've lost 120 men to that patrol. There are only eight of them and they are split apart. Your Cobra Commander ordered your friend Copperhead to chase the five men fleeing into the mountains. We are to chase down those three men." The Heartless replied, "This Gamma unit from my dimension is a formidable adversary, yes, but they can be defeated if we outnumber them."  
  
"What are you waiting for!" Major Bludd shouted, "Let's go kill those vermin!" 


	2. Run and Gun

Run and Gun  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Elsewhere Captain Fetterman could see troops chasing after them, lead by a fellow with a green mask and helmet.  
  
"Stoney, Morgan, you're up!" Fetterman shouted.  
  
Stoney was firing steadily, forget being conservative, there was at least a platoon facing them. He put about a half dozen rounds into a black robed Heartless drone that had gotten too close. He pulled his .45 handgun from his belt kit and shot another one.  
  
Meanwhile Dave was shooting double tap shots into COBRA vipers and Heartless drones as appeared. Fetterman fired a couple 203 grenades just as Rumpler tossed down a couple smoke grenades, allowing the five men a temporary respite.  
  
"That cave's a good LUP." Fetterman said, "Sarge, take Link and secure it. I'll create a perimeter with Morgan and Stoney."  
  
"Cave's good to go. It's got a back way we can go out." Rumpler said, poking his head above the hole.  
  
"Lay up here for the rest of the day. Sleep in shifts, tonight we get moving again under cover of darkness." Fetterman said.  
  
"God its cold." Dave groaned, "Can we light a fire."  
  
"Negative. We light a fire, we're a beacon for every COBRA and Heartless within a thousand miles." Fetterman replied.  
  
"He's right." Rumpler replied, "We've lost a majority of our warm clothes when we jettisoned our packs."  
  
"How are we for rations, ammo, and water?" Fetterman asked.  
  
"Rations, we've got enough for two maybe three days at most. Water, maybe one day's worth. Ammo, we've got enough for maybe a day if we bump into another big patrol like last time." Rumpler replied.  
  
"Stoney, you and Morgan take second watch. Relieve me and Sarge at 1600 and we move out at 1800."  
  
"Yes sir." Morgan replied. ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Copperhead picked up a rucksack dropped by the five men that he and the combined patrol had been chasing. "Warm clothes, MREs, extra water and ammunition, even a few 66mm rockets. They've lost most of their rations, water, and heavy weapons. If they meet another vehicle unit, they won't be able to shoot it up like they did earlier today. We'll let time wear them out. The cold should force them to stay moving or risk hypothermia. We can get them then."  
  
"Excellent planning Copperhead." Said one of the Heartless, a grim reaper look alike with a sickle.  
  
"I'll send patrols out to the east and west, meanwhile let's set up camp and see if we can't catch these men taking the high road." Copperhead replied, "But if the cold doesn't get them, they'll move by night, they stand less of a chance of being detected."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Tall, what've you got left?" Bilby asked.  
  
"I've got two more 200 round drums and six thirty round magazines." Tallman replied, "I've also got four .45 pistol mags."  
  
"Whitehurst?" Bilby asked.  
  
"I've got five thirty round magazines, six 40mm grenades, and four .45 pistol mags."  
  
"I've got five full twenty round magazines, one half full magazine, and about three .45 pistol magazines. Whitehurst, this is your lucky day, I saved three 40mm grenades from the bergens." Bilby replied.  
  
"Thanks." Whitehurst replied.  
  
"Lets hole up in that crevice right there and not move until sunset. We've got more of a chance of sneaking out in the dark." Bilby replied.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Morgan's chattering teeth were getting worse. The kid was freezing, hugging his arms for meager warmth. "Sarge, sandwich the kid between you and Link, I'll take over his watch."  
  
"Sir." Stoney whispered, "I hold a patrol, at least ten guys, five Heartless and five COBRAs closing towards our position."  
  
"Damn it!" Fetterman said, "We can't stay here. Sarge, get everyone ready to move out."  
  
"Roger that sir." Rumpler replied.  
  
"Move out. Link, you and Sarge take Morgan, we'll cover your ass." Fetterman replied.  
  
The five men snuck silently into the sunset, it seemed they were about to sneak out from under the noses of the Heartless when they were spotted. "Fire! Fire!"  
  
At about the same time the Heartless opened fire. "Link, Stoney, lay down a base of fire!"  
  
"Sarge, cover me, I'll get Morgan." Fetterman replied.  
  
"Can you walk Morgan? Fetterman asked.  
  
"Y-yes sir." Morgan replied.  
  
Sergeant Rumpler was shooting steadily at the ten man patrol which had suddenly summoned up another ten reinforcements.  
  
"Fire and withdraw, you know the drill. Link, start us of, Sarge, follow Link, then I'll follow Sarge. Morgan, follow my shooting." Fetterman replied.  
  
"Go!" Fetterman replied, "Fire! Fire!"  
  
Link was firing steadily, in short bursts that hit Heartless or COBRAs that found themselves in his sights. "I'm out! Reloading!" Link replied running like hell behind Rumpler.  
  
Rumpler fired off rounds as he chose targets carefully, killing three more Heartless with double tap shots. "Shit! They've got snowmobiles sir!" Rumpler shouted, taking one out with a 40mm grenade through the motor.  
  
"I'm out! Reloading!" Rumpler shouted, leaping over a snow covered boulder.  
  
Fetterman put a single 40mm grenade into the side of an ice saber, sending two vipers flying over a cliff. "Sarge, get Morgan out of here, Link cover Sarge, Stoney stay with me!" Fetterman shouted.  
  
Rumpler had Morgan draped over his shoulder, the short sergeant with the massively developed upper body grunted under the weight. Fetterman was shooting three round bursts, and that meant that more troops had come after them. "I'm out! Reloading!"  
  
Now Stoney was shooting steadily, normally Gamma machine gunners were trained to lay down highly accurate suppressive fire, achieving kills within three to four round bursts. The fact that Stoney was shooting steadily meant that more enemy troops were running after them.  
  
"That plateau has quite a few dry washes we can hole up in sir. If we can hide up there, we're good." Rumpler shouted.  
  
"Negative Sarge, we move we stay alive, we hold still, we die." Fetterman shouted.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Bilby felt absolutely exhausted. For nearly forty eight hours now, with brief snatches of sleep in between, he had been fighting and running. Whitehurst and Tallman were short on MREs so he split his six remaining ones with them. Tallman was covering their rear with Whitehurst in the middle of the column and Bilby walking the front.  
  
He checked his map, "According to this we go north by north west. We keep traveling in a zig zag pattern, hugging every creek bed and gully and every piece of cover."  
  
"Any possibility we could rendezvous with Fetterman?" Whitehurst asked.  
  
With his red light flash he looked at the map, "Fetterman's no fool; he'll avoid the main roads, because COBRA controls them as far as we're concerned. He'll travel this thing cross country so the chances of running into him are slim and none."  
  
"Let's keep trekking. At sunrise, we go into that gully and we stay there. We can cover another fifteen to twenty miles if we keep going." Bilby replied.  
  
Now Tallman was leading the group, he was the only one with night vision goggles. Aside from the night scope from his belt kit that Bilby bolted onto his rifle at dusk Tall was the only one with night vision on his person. The three men alternated with each other for point, tail end Charlie, and mid column.  
  
They had been marching continuously; taking five to fifteen minute breaks every hour. Tallman raised his fist. The three men dropped to one knee. "What is it Tall?" Bilby asked.  
  
"Heartless." Tallman whispered, running a hand past his curly black hair and pointing.  
  
"Son of a bitch." Bilby whispered, as he put his night sight on them. There were at least a dozen of them camped beside a cluster of boulders leading into a nice stretch of broken country.  
  
"Can we take 'em?" Whitehurst said.  
  
"I'd try not too, considering we've got maybe two to six days walking ahead of us, I don't want to get us into another gunfight this time." Bilby replied.  
  
Little did Bilby know that at least nine other Heartless were closing in behind them, nine grim reapers with sickles ready. That was until Whitehurst saw them and started shooting.  
  
"Tall, take out those at the camp." Bilby shouted after he put a bullet through a Heartless standing closest to the camp fire. Tallman was shooting steadily into the camp, his machinegun tearing a swath into several surprised Heartless.  
  
"Whitehurst, cover our ass!" Bilby shouted, jumping over a sand berm.  
  
"Reloading!" Whitehurst shouted.  
  
"I've gotcha covered!" Tallman shouted.  
  
The three men ducked behind a rock. They all reloaded full magazines into their weapons and slowly checked the Heartless encampment. "Clear!" Tallman said.  
  
"Whitehurst, see if you can't raise anyone by that radio." Bilby said.  
  
"Got it." Whitehurst said as he headed.  
  
"Patrol, this is Major Bludd, radio check, over." The radio sparked to life.  
  
"Fuck!" Whitehurst said.  
  
"Uh, this is patrol, we killed them." Whitehurst said, impersonating a Heartless.  
  
Suddenly the voice of another Heartless came over the radio, "Who is this? What unit are you with?"  
  
"I wasn't enjoying the conversation anyway!" Whitehurst shouted, as he put a bullet through the radio, "Bilby we're gonna have company."  
  
"Damn it!" Bilby shouted as they fled into the canyon, "I'll cover you guys and give me a shout when you've run past me."  
  
Whitehurst and Tallman, hugging the rocks as cover ran from rock to rock, covering each other until Tall reached Bilby. Just as Whitehurst was getting up to run, two vehicles stopped at the encampment. It was a five ton flatbed truck.  
  
Whitehurst was cut off, about twenty feet of open ground was between him and where Tallman and Bilby were holed up. At least twenty COBRA soldiers and as many Heartless came out of the trucks, a group of about ten was heading for them. Copperhead was directing the troops to search the encampment.  
  
Bilby tracked them through his telescopic sight. With any luck they wouldn't find anything. "Oh shit." Bilby moaned as one of them got about four feet from where Whitehurst was and had its weapon pointed at his chest.  
  
Bilby squeezed the trigger, and black blood from the Heartless splattered onto the rock as the creature took a 7.62 bullet though the head. "Run Whitehurst! Run!" Bilby shouted.  
  
Tallman was now shooting as well as Whitehurst and Bilby took positions to his rear, entering the ravine. As soon as Bilby ran past him and Whitehurst was in position, Tallman pelted to the next patch of cover, behind Whitehurst. Now Whitehurst was firing, relying solely on his excellent night vision and keen marksmanship.  
  
The trucks couldn't go through the ravine, so vehicle chases weren't an issue. But still they made good targets. Whitehurst launched a 203 bomb at each truck, aiming for the engine block. The first truck took a hit to the tire and lost a wheel. The second was struck in the fuel tank with a huge fireball explosion.  
  
"Hot damn! Good shooting Whitehurst!" Bilby shouted as Whitehurst ran past him.  
  
Bilby and Whitehurst were firing single shots at the Heartless drones, simultaneously keeping their heads down or trying to kill them. Tallman's shooting was done conservatively in three and five round bursts at any clustered groups. The three men successfully broke contact with the enemy patrol as they fled into the ravine. Bilby was to the rear of the formation with Whitehurst in the front and Tall in the middle.  
  
Meanwhile, Major Bludd walked up the Heartless patrol leader that had been talking to him in the canyon a day earlier. "How were three 'scared running boys' able to shoot up at least twenty of your troops?"  
  
"Patience, each fight drains their ammunition, and forces them to keep running. We'll tire them out and when they are unable to fight well we can capture or kill them at our leisure." The Heartless replied.  
  
"Copperhead's got that other group running for their lives too." Major Bludd replied, "But don't even think about squandering my vipers the way you squander your drones."  
  
"Don't worry Major, once we draw them into the open at the end of the ravine, they can be destroyed." The Heartless replied.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Our best chance lies in hijacking a vehicle and driving to the Slaughterhouse." Fetterman said as they hunkered down in a roadside ditch, "Morgan's in too bad a way to keep on trying this out on foot. Stoney, you and Sarge watch the south end of that road, the rest of us will get some shut eye."  
  
"Yes sir." Stoney replied.  
  
About three hours passed before Stoney said, "Captain, I see a vehicle coming this way."  
  
"What is it?" Fetterman asked.  
  
"It's a Buick." Stoney laughed, "It's got that same snake seal on the side of it that those COBRA bozos were wearing."  
  
Sergeant Rumpler immediately stepped up on the road, waving his arms. The motorist stopped the car. Inside the car were two Crimson Guards. Suddenly the Crimson Guards found themselves facing five M-16s and SAWs pointing at their heads. They raised their hands in surrender as Link and Stoney flex cuffed their hands and feet.  
  
"I'll drive sir." Rumpler said.  
  
Stoney and Link sat on either side of Morgan in the back seat with Fetterman in the front and Sarge driving. Sarge lead footed the gas pedal, eager to put some distance between himself and pursuit. "Any chance of running into Bilby and the others?" Fetterman asked.  
  
"No sir. If their smart, they're staying off the road and moving north on foot." Rumpler replied.  
  
"Shit." Fetterman said. "Checkpoint."  
  
There was a check point manned by about six COBRA and Heartless guards with a Humvee. "Stoney, Link, get ready. Sarge when, not if, they find out who we are, step on the gas and blast them to hell."  
  
"I'm on it sir." Rumpler said, putting his weapon on the open window.  
  
"Ready, go!" Fetterman shouted just as they approached the checkpoint.  
  
Every weapon in the car opened up as they sped past, the three surviving guards were firing at the car as Rumpler gunned the engine with Stoney standing half way out of the sunroof firing his SAW in short accurate bursts that took down a fourth guard and forced the other two into a concrete shed.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Copperhead cut the plastic flex cuffs off the two Crimson Guard officers that had been ambushed by the five man patrol he had been tracking. "Where were they headed?" he asked.  
  
"They were fleeing north, towards the GI Joe base." One of the Crimson Guards said.  
  
At this time Copperhead's radio crackled, "This is Checkpoint Whiskey. We just had a drive by shooting five minutes ago. Requesting backup and medical evacuation."  
  
"Permission granted." Copperhead replied, "Smart bastards the lot of them. Taking a vehicle and shooting their way through our checkpoints. Always knew they were too lightly defended."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
The ravine petered out and ended with open desert. Just as the three men thought they were clear they made contact with an eight man Heartless patrol. The Heartless got the first shot off, sending a bullet through Tallman's head. "Tallman!" Whitehurst shouted, heading for Tall.  
  
"He's dead Whitehurst!" Bilby shouted, firing two rounds, killing two Heartless.  
  
The pair ran, shooting their way to the next area of cover, a patch of cacti and mesquite trees. "Stay low. They can't find us if we shut up and stay quiet until nightfall." Bilby said.  
  
"You're one to talk psycho! You left Tall behind." Whitehurst snapped.  
  
"Whitehurst, Tall was already dead." Bilby hissed.  
  
"Fuck you man! Is that how you survived Titan, leaving your buddy to rot." Whitehurst said.  
  
Bilby hit him, "Don't you even fucking dare mention Titan. You weren't there. You didn't see your entire team, your buddies get killed right before your eyes."  
  
"Hey, Bilby, I see a rancher ahead." Whitehurst said, "I'll make contact with him, I'll give him our cover story. If I'm not back in two hours, make for the Slaughterhouse."  
  
"Gotcha." Bilby said. It was 1400, two o'clock in the afternoon when Whitehurst broke cover to make contact with the rancher who took him into his barn. Bilby had a distinctly sour feeling in his gut. Something wasn't right. That rancher was in the right place at seemingly the right time.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"So what's your name again soldier?" Zartan asked the prisoner.  
  
"Whitehurst, Andrew."  
  
"What's your rank?" Zartan asked.  
  
"Corporal."  
  
"Serial number?" Zartan asked.  
  
"136-45-7144."  
  
"Date of Birth?" Zartan asked.  
  
"9 May 1982."  
  
"How many men were with you?" Zartan asked, taking off the cowboy hat.  
  
"I'm sorry I can't answer that question." Whitehurst replied. He got butt stroked by a Heartless for his trouble.  
  
"Name?" Zartan asked.  
  
"Whitehurst, Andrew."  
  
Zarana walked into the room, "Do you prefer Andy, or do you just go by Andrew?"  
  
"I'm sorry, I can't answer that question." Whitehurst replied.  
  
"C'mon." Zarana purred seductively, moving closer to the chair Whitehurst was tied to. She straddled his lap, "You must have a name someone special calls you."  
  
"I cannot answer that question." Whitehurst replied, gulping audibly as Zarana inched a little closer until she was practically face to face with him.  
  
"Do you have a special someone?" Zarana asked, stroking the line of his throat.  
  
"I cannot answer that question." Whitehurst said.  
  
"Your feminine charms aren't getting any information sister, we've been at this game with Corporal Whitehurst for nearly two hours." Zartan replied.  
  
Whitehurst was a mess, bruises crisscrossed his face, and blood trickled from a possibly broken nose. Zartan and Zarana had been doing the bad cop good cop routine with him for hours and he only answered with his name, rank, birth date, and serial number. Road Pig, the big guy, had broken his right leg at the start of the interrogation and now fat boy was off to go tell the boss about the prisoner they captured. Zartan kicked Whitehurst's broken leg.  
  
"He'll yield eventually. Most men yield to a woman's feminine wiles." Zarana replied.  
  
"His accomplice could already be getting away." Zartan said, "You two, take him outside and if his friends don't show themselves, kill him."  
  
The two Heartless dragged Whitehurst from the farm house and into a clearing. Whitehurst hoped to God Bilby followed the plan and wouldn't do anything stupid like reveal himself. He felt strangely peaceful, totally serene despite the path his life was taking. He didn't even feel all that much after that extreme terror after Zartan ordered the Heartless to kill him. It was almost as if he realized the inevitability of it all.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Bilby's sick feeling in his gut revealed itself when he saw a bruised and battered Whitehurst dragged from the farm house kneeling in its front lawn. Two Heartless drones had him under guard. Bilby debated shooting the pistol holder and then the other guard and hoping Whitehurst could run for cover in time. He knew that couldn't happen. By the way his right leg hung, Bilby could tell Whitehurst had broken it.  
  
"Tell him to show himself." The Heartless drone demanded, holding a 9mm Makarov to his head.  
  
"Fuck you." Whitehurst said, with a defiant sneer. He spat blood, mucus and saliva onto the foot of the other guard.  
  
"No, Corporal Whitehurst, fuck you." The pistol wielder said and squeezed of a single round into Whitehurst's brain.  
  
"Fuck you both." Bilby replied and squeezed off a single round into the pistol wielder's head.  
  
The other Heartless had only a second to move before Bilby shot him through the head again. Suddenly gunfire erupted from the house. Bilby wasn't worried, they couldn't have drawn a bead on him. He waited until the gunman in the house reloaded and when Zartan raised his head he squeezed off a bullet into his forehead.  
  
"Time to go." Bilby remarked after he fired a bullet into the engine of the vehicle parked in front of the farm house and started running. He could feel guilty later. Whitehurst and Tallman were dead, there was nothing he could do to help them, just like he couldn't do anything for the people on the Titan mission.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"What is it Road Pig?" Major Bludd asked.  
  
"We captured one of those three guys you were chasing." Road Pig replied.  
  
"We got another of them." Major Bludd said, pointing to the sprawled corpse of a short, muscular black man lying on the desert floor.  
  
"That means there's only one of them. I believe Copperhead needs more men to chase down those five other members of this team." The Heartless drone replied.  
  
"I don't work for your boss Heartless." Major Bludd replied.  
  
"We can handle one fleeing man low on ammunition." The Heartless replied, "And I believe that Copperhead needs all the help he can get."  
  
The COBRA troops moved out, following Major Bludd toward Copperhead's position when the radio crackled, "Major Bludd, this is Zarana. Zartan down.'  
  
"Zarana, have you got a fix on that third soldier?" Major Bludd replied.  
  
"He's moving north, towards the GI Joe base." Zarana replied.  
  
"Very well. The Heartless are sending more troops to help you. The rest of us are going to help Copperhead." Major Bludd said, with distaste for the order. He vented the distaste by kicking Tallman's corpse, "Not so dangerous now are we."  
  
Major Bludd and his troops jumped onto their APCs and drove off to the roadblock where Copperhead had billeted himself.  
  
"There's only one way they could be going, north." Copperhead replied, "I've already alerted every guard post to be on maximum alert for our five rogues."  
  
Major Bludd surveyed the damage. The four bodies had been moved already, and there were bullet holes all over the place from when the car had driven through the barricade with guns blazing.  
  
"Reinforce the checkpoints along the northern route. Send the majority of the troops to the firebase bordering GI Joe territory." Major Bludd replied, "We'll catch those bastards and ensure that GI Joe doesn't find out about our alliance with the Heartless."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
What will happen to the six remaining men of Kilo Two Zero? When will they meet the Joes? More importantly, how will the Joes react to know that a new foe that is threatening to cover the world with a shroud of darkness is in the area? Or will GI Joe find out? The answers coming next chapter. 


	3. Captured

Captured  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before. Now for the Titan AE crossover.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Cover Girl drove the jeep out to the campsite with the Misfit girls. The Triplets, Wanda, and Althea were with them. "That sure was nice of Hawk to approve this little camping trip of ours."  
  
"He does need time to drain all the water out of the kitchen after Althea and Lance had their little confrontation." Wanda replied.  
  
There was the other jeep with Shipwreck, Low Light, Roadblock and the Misfit boys in it. They stopped at the campsite with Pietro and Lance setting up the tents, Shipwreck and Toad taking care of Claudius and Barney, and Roadblock getting lunch set up.  
  
Althea was chasing the Triplets around and Wanda was going with Cover Girl to go collect firewood. Low Light tagged along with them. "The camp site is ground zero for insanity, I'm going with you two, the only sane people at the camp."  
  
"I'm flattered Low Light." Cover Girl replied.  
  
As they proceeded deeper into the mesquite grove a distinctive sound could be heard. "Hey Low Light? Cover Girl? That sounds like - "  
  
"Gunfire!" Low Light and Cover Girl both snapped, "Cover Girl, take Wanda back to the camp site, I'll go see what all this shooting is about."  
  
"Low Light, it's probably some redneck hunters drunk on beer, nothing really to worry about." Cover Girl replied.  
  
"With full automatic weapons?" Low Light replied after a burst of machinegun fire could be heard.  
  
"I'll get Wanda back to the camp site. Be careful Low Light." Cover Girl said.  
  
"You know me." Low Light replied.  
  
"That's why I said be careful." Cover Girl replied, with a slightly playful tone.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Bilby fired another round down range, this one shot down a Heartless in a grim reaper get up. The L1A1 magazine was out and he reached into his pouches for another. He had only two more plus his three pistol mags left. There was a big group of Heartless after him. He reloaded another magazine. The rifle and his gear felt heavier and heavier and the groaning stabs of hunger in his midsection were getting worse. He had already eaten his last MRE at least twelve hours ago. Water he got by licking dew off of leaves. As if that wasn't bad enough, he had to have walked right into a Heartless patrol. Trying to sneak around it, he was spotted and they pursued.  
  
He had already used up an entire magazine, killing or injuring about fifteen of them. He had only two magazines left. He had been shooting with more precision than the rest of the unit, thanks to his 4x telescopic sight. His Heartless pursuers regretted showing any part of their bodies over the rocks because any exposure for even a second meant catching a bullet.  
  
Two more Heartless, short all black humanoids with antennae save for glowing yellow eyes, cradling AK-47s charged him, firing wildly. Both fell, clutching at their throats after being drilled by two 7.62 rounds. Bilby took advantage of the lull to run behind another rock. Between the rocks and him was a hill and over that a mesquite grove, perfect cover.  
  
Another Heartless, wearing a blue uniform with the mark of its evil race and a silver helmet carrying an RPK machinegun fired off a burst in his direction. Bullets kicked up at his heels, but the full auto panic shooting missed him. He fired another shot, drilling the machine gunner through the head.  
  
The superiority of numbers was starting to tell though. For every one Bilby seemed to kill three more would take its place. He shot another Heartless through its eye and he watched with grim satisfaction as his he knew his pursuers were leaving a trail of dead bodies while chasing him.  
  
Bilby took a position behind several boulders at the top of the hill after a bullet hit him in the thigh. "That's it you sons of bitches! You wanna play hard, let's play hard."  
  
Bilby wasn't going to try to reach the GI Joe camp. He was going to take as many of those bastards to hell with him as possible before they took him out. "Never figured it'd end like this." He groaned.  
  
His L1A1 SLR spoke again and yet another Heartless spun to the ground with a bullet in its head. Ping! The SLR's moving parts cocked back, indicating that he had fired off his last round in the clip. Bilby pulled his pistol as another group of Heartless came up the hill. He put two pistol rounds through the skull of one of them, hit the second through the chest, and shot the third in the stomach as he slammed in another magazine for his rifle.  
  
He raised his deadly telescopic rifle again as the mob closed on him, at least fifty of them came at him, charging up the hill. They knew Bilby was alone, and running out of ammunition in a hurry, so they realized they could swarm and kill him if they charged in a swarm.  
  
"Fuck you!" Bilby shouted and fired more shots. Each bullet killed or badly injured a Heartless, he noted with grim satisfaction. Here it was, they failed to kill him on the Titan mission. They only killed the soul of the man, but the man's body was still alive. Now here he was, making his last stand in yet another dimension, killing the creatures that had taken away everything from him.  
  
'Bilby's Last Stand' he thought, 'That's what the guys back at the FOB are gonna call this once they hear about this story. Next thing I know, is they'll be teaching Gamma sniper recruits about Martin Bilby's last stand against the Heartless. That's rich.'  
  
The thought amused Bilby, despite himself, and he chuckled, firing as he did so. The last bullet in his SLR had been fired and he dropped his rifle. Before the rifle hit the ground Bilby's Colt 1911A1 was up and firing.  
  
He had only two more clips left and at least thirty of them still remaining. 'And here he stood with fourteen bullets left.' Bilby thought. He shot down two more Heartless with smoking holes in their chests.  
  
He took down a third with a hole blown through its stomach and shouted, "That's for Whitehurst you prick!"  
  
He kept dragging his left leg towards the thicket. He could at least die far away from the Heartless, and maybe they wouldn't find his body if he got lucky.  
  
He reloaded his last magazine and fired it, making his last stand good with double tap firing, shooting each Heartless through the head, twice with .45 caliber slugs. The last bullet fired as a Heartless fell with a bullet through its throat, less than one yard away. Enraged the creatures tore at Bilby's uniform, kicking and hitting him with rifle butts. He gave himself over to them, letting them commence their beating, knowing full well they had won and he had lost.  
  
The last thing Martin Bilby expected to hear was gunfire that wasn't directed at him. He could hear highly accurate single rifle shots which told him his rescuer was a sniper of some kind. The final thing he saw before he passed out was a man wearing a black hat with red goggles carrying a telescopic rifle.  
  
He could hear the man saying, "Cover Girl, this is Low Light, I need the first aid kit, ASAP! We've got a guy unconscious in the clearing."  
  
The Heartless had fled, the sniper's unexpected arrival forced them to run like the rats they were. "They'll be back." Bilby managed to croak out before he passed out.  
  
Cover Girl raced to the edge of the clearing, finding the unconscious man with his telescopic rifle at his feet and his .45 handgun on his lap. She bandaged his leg as best she could and saw Roadblock running over with a crude stretcher. "Let's get him out of here."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"RPG!" Sarge yelled as a rocket flew past the Buick.  
  
Stoney immediately flattened the shooter with a dozen rounds from his SAW. He and Link were standing back to back, standing in the Buick's sun roof with their SAWs aimed to the vehicle's front and back. Another checkpoint awaited them and Sarge floored the gas pedal.  
  
Rumpler was one hell of a marksman. His M-16 was balanced on the rim of the window and without moving his other hand from the steering wheel he took down three Heartless drones with bursts of gunfire. He didn't even need to stop the car as he crashed through the barricade. Morgan was handing Fetterman and Rumpler magazines from his pouches.  
  
Two COBRA vipers emptied their weapons at the Buick as they rounded a corner. Suddenly a tire blew out in the car. "Hang on!" Fetterman yelled.  
  
"RPG!" Sarge replied as another rocket propelled grenade flew through the windshield and out the back window without exploding.  
  
"Shit that was close!" Stoney shouted.  
  
"Watch out!" Rumpler shouted as the car skidded and fishtailed off the road.  
  
"Split up! Sarge take Morgan, we stand a better chance of making it three miles to the Slaughterhouse that way." Fetterman replied.  
  
"Yes sir!" Sarge shouted back.  
  
The three COBRAs, including the RPG shooter came forward to try and kill the car's occupants. Link flattened them with his SAW. "Gotcha captain!" Link said.  
  
The group split in all directions just in time to see Stoney take a round through the hip. They couldn't do anything for him now as a group of Heartless descended on him, took his weapon, and carted him away. Link tried to gun them down, and was halfway through the ammo drum when the SAW jammed. Link drew his pistol and tried to shoot up the two Heartless drones bundling Stoney into a jeep. He hit one of them, missed the other and wound up having to run pell mell away.  
  
Captain Fetterman could see Link, Sarge, and Morgan making their getaways as he ducked inside a drainage ditch. As long as he could fight off the cold water, he could stay here undetected and once night fell he could creep out across the way towards the GI Joe base. It looked like Sarge slipped away with Morgan in the confusion of the firefight.  
  
Link had apparently unjammed his gun, because he could hear more bursts from a SAW as he fought off a swarm of Heartless chasing him. He could hear the impact of a rifle with human bone and heard Link cry out in pain. Risking a look, he could see the Heartless swarm Link. One kicked his weapon away and two of them pinioned his arms while the third kicked him in the groin. Link doubled over in agony as they handcuffed him, and led him away.  
  
That left Sarge, Morgan and himself as the only three who could possibly warn the Joes about the Heartless. That was unless Bilby, Tallman, and Whitehurst were still alive. It was hard to imagine any other three men surviving being separated from their unit and fighting a massive COBRA/Heartless manhunt for them, but Whitehurst, Tall and Bilby, like all Gamma unit soldiers were experts and killing and more importantly staying alive.  
  
The water was starting to really get cold, and his shivering sent ripples through the calm water of the ditch. The hot desert wind still felt like an arctic breeze when it hit him. It was still two hours till sunset and the best time to flee. Suddenly a single Heartless spotted him. The creature yammered its alien tongue as Fetterman put two rounds into it.  
  
"Damn!" Fetterman shouted, running along through the ditch. Several more Heartless joined their recently deceased comrade, shooting at the running Gamma soldier for all they were worth.  
  
Fetterman was ducking behind drain pipes and assorted detritus in the ditch as he ran, firing shots and the occasional 203 round at the Heartless. Suddenly a club struck him across the back, making him drop his M-16. Fetterman drew his pistol only to have it clubbed out of his hand. Suddenly Copperhead knocked down the Gamma soldier and summoned four COBRA vipers.  
  
Fetterman's hands were secured and he was forced into the back seat of another Crimson Guard Cadillac and two Vipers sat on top of him. He could only hope Sarge and Morgan made it clear of the three mile radius into the GI Joe territory. It was better to play defeated this time, and then make his move to escape. If the interrogation got too brutal he had a cover story, they all did. The cover story was they were an Air Rescue unit sent to rescue a downed surveillance aircraft and that they were medics. He went over the story in his head, making sure he knew it by heart as he was driven further south into Heartless controlled territory.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Who was that guy Low Light and Cover Girl found in the desert?" Lance asked.  
  
"I don't know, he didn't look like any of the soldiers I've seen at the Pit." Althea said.  
  
"All I know is he looked like hell when we saw him." Toad replied.  
  
They were standing outside General Hawk's office where the adults were in a meeting with the General. "Wait, I hear something else." Pietro whispered.  
  
"And all of his ammunition was gone. Whatever those things were there must be quite a lot of them." Low Light replied, "He was also about to be captured by them."  
  
"Lifeline how's our patient?" Hawk asked.  
  
"His vitals are stable and Bree's monitoring him right now, he's still out though." Lifeline replied.  
  
"The kids, are they alright?" Hawk asked.  
  
"As right as they'll be after seeing a bleeding guy in a state of shock that looked like a mile of bad road." Low Light replied.  
  
"Airtight, how's the specimen analysis coming?" Hawk asked.  
  
"Well, the good thing is their not invulnerable to our weapons." Airtight said, "But the weirdest thing is when I dissected it, I found no heart."  
  
"You mean the chest shot blew it out." Hawk replied.  
  
"No sir, literally this thing had no heart. It was also shot in the head, so there's no possibility the heart was blown out of its body." Airtight replied, "It also had this thick, tar like substance instead of blood."  
  
"How could something not have a heart?" Cover Girl asked.  
  
"I don't know." Airtight replied, "All I know is when I dissected it I didn't find a heart and I only found this weird tar substance instead of blood. There was only a vacuum like void inside a bony chamber where the heart should have been."  
  
"Well at least I know why he keeps muttering the words Heartless every so often in his sleep." Lifeline replied.  
  
"What about his equipment?" Hawk asked.  
  
"Nothing unusual about it, at least from an army standpoint. He was carrying a British L1A1 rifle with a Raptor 4x scope, and his Colt 1911A1 used to be standard Army issue." Air Tight replied, "He's not a COBRA that's for sure, because he doesn't have any of their marks."  
  
"He was also grunting something about Major Bludd when we were driving him back." Low Light said.  
  
"We can rule out COBRA, and no one in the Army database is named Martin Bilby. Aside from his dog tags we don't have any other sources of information until he regains full consciousness." Roadblock replied, "And his serial number doesn't match anyone living in the US right now."  
  
"Alright, that's all we know, for now, dismissed." Hawk said.  
  
The group filed out of Hawk's office and the Misfits quickly fled someplace else. Toad called Xi on his wrist. "How's our guy?"  
  
"He's still barely conscious, still keeps muttering in his sleep." Xi replied.  
  
"Yeah, we know that Xi." Toad replied, "Thanks to Pietro's snooping."  
  
"Well add some other words to the list. I believe they are names. Whitehurst, Tallman, Akima." Xi said.  
  
"None of those sound familiar, but Akima seems like a girl's name." Toad replied.  
  
"Like Hawk said, we're gonna have to wait until he wakes up." Althea replied.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Name?" Major Bludd asked.  
  
"Fetterman, George Canby."  
  
"Rank?" Major Bludd asked.  
  
"Captain."  
  
"Serial number?" Major Bludd asked.  
  
"352-76-1982."  
  
"Birth Date?" Major Bludd asked.  
  
"4 October 1978." Fetterman replied.  
  
"So Captain Fetterman, what were you doing in our territory?" Major Bludd asked.  
  
"I cannot answer that question." Fetterman replied.  
  
Bludd touched him with a taser. A scream rose as electricity coursed through his body, "Of course you can Fetterman, answer that."  
  
"All I am required to give by the Geneva convention is name, rank, serial number, and birth date." Fetterman replied.  
  
"Were the individuals named Palmer and Whitehurst with you?" Major Bludd asked.  
  
"I cannot answer that question." Fetterman replied.  
  
Copperhead, who was standing nearby, sneered and said, "I bet they were."  
  
He pulled a pair of dog tags from his pocket, he read the first one off, "Palmer, Tallman. 297-29-0788. O Negative. USA. Christian."  
  
"Sound familiar captain?" Major Bludd said.  
  
"Or what about this one." Copperhead replied, "Whitehurst, Andrew N. 136- 45-7144. O Positive. USA. Jewish."  
  
"I cannot answer that question." Fetterman replied.  
  
After another electrical shock, where Fetterman felt spreading warmth in his trousers. He'd pissed himself, and it embarrassed the hell out of him. "Come now, Captain, what kind of officer are you? You don't know the names of your own men. Their blood types? What religions they practice?" Copperhead replied.  
  
"I cannot answer that question." Fetterman said.  
  
"Are you a team leader?" Copperhead asked.  
  
"I cannot answer that question." Fetterman replied.  
  
"Strange, Sergeant Rumpler said that you are." Copperhead replied.  
  
Fetterman realized this could be a trick. Even without interrogating Rumpler, they could figure out he was team leader by his rank or at least infer it. Though in Gamma, sometimes senior sergeants commanded missions, but COBRA didn't know that.  
  
"Yeah you heard me." Copperhead replied, pulling another set of dog tags from his pocket. "Rumpler, Charles K. 443-32-1442. Type A. USA. No Religion."  
  
"We've got him and your hypothermic friend." Copperhead added, "Morgan, David. 144-22-7880. O Neg. USA. Roman Catholic."  
  
"I cannot answer that question." Fetterman replied.  
  
"Well maybe we can change your mind." Copperhead replied, "Bring him in."  
  
Sitting in a wheelchair, limbs still weak from exhaustion but handcuffed anyway was Dave Morgan. His face had a few bad cuts across it from being thrown around the Buick when it crashed. Copperhead pointed his pistol at Morgan's head.  
  
"Now Captain, are you this man's team leader?" Copperhead asked.  
  
"I cannot answer that question!" Fetterman shouted back.  
  
Copperhead started to squeeze the trigger and David Morgan started chanting, weakly, "Our Father who art in heaven.."  
  
"Wait!" Fetterman shouted, "Yes I'm his team leader."  
  
"Finally, we're getting somewhere." Copperhead replied.  
  
"Now to guarantee your man proper medical treatment. What was your mission?" Major Bludd replied.  
  
"I cannot answer that question." Fetterman replied.  
  
"Wrong answer!" Copperhead shouted.  
  
"Air rescue!" Fetterman shouted frantically, "We're a medical evacuation unit."  
  
"If you're medics, why on earth were you carrying these?" Major Bludd asked, hefting a 66mm rocket launcher.  
  
"It's the Standard Operating Procedure to do so." Fetterman replied.  
  
"Really. Medical Evacuation eh?" Copperhead replied, "For what?"  
  
"I don't know!" Fetterman shouted, "We were told a surveillance aircraft crashed here and were inserted to rescue the aircrew when the aircraft took heavy fire and the pilot made several insertions instead of one."  
  
"Hmm. That's why we found two of your men about thirty miles east of where you were." Copperhead replied, "You've been most helpful captain."  
  
"Take him back to his cell." Major Bludd ordered two Heartless drones.  
  
They had already read off names of people that had been captured. He noticed that they didn't read off Bilby's dog tags. Did that possibly mean that Bilby survived? If he had, he was their only hope to warn GI Joe about the Heartless. Or did that mean that Bilby was dead and they hadn't found his body? Fervently George Fetterman hoped it was the former rather than the latter. The last thing he wanted to see was another dimension consumed by the all encompassing greed and darkness of the Heartless. ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
What happens when Bilby wakes up? Up next, the mysterious Titan mission that they keep talking about. Bilby meets the Misfits. 


	4. Towards the Light

Towards the Light  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
New Earth laid a virgin world, untamed rugged natural beauty as far as the eye could see. That was what the mission codenamed Foxtrot One Two had been sent to aid. The Heartless had invaded the Titan AE dimension almost a year ago and Foxtrot One Two had been sent to aid the survivors of the devastating assault on New Earth to rebel against the Heartless. De Oppresso Liber, the motto of the Special Forces, Freedom for the Oppressed, was followed that day.  
  
Martin Bilby felt his parachute jerk slowing his descent on the HALO jump. Already the C-130 was making tracks out of Heartless airspace. This was the start of the fateful Titan mission with the seven members of 3 Troop, Charlie Squadron that he had served faithfully with for nearly two years of his Special Forces career that began as a boy soldier with the 25th Infantry Division.  
  
Akima was the leader of the Titan AE universe's resistance against the Heartless. Her beloved Cale had been captured and executed for his crimes by the Heartless. Within three hours of their landing, Foxtrot One Two made contact with the resistance. What followed were the events that had driven Bilby insane.  
  
It was raining that night, the night where Bilby's soul had been torn from his body. Through the six weeks they had been on New Earth, Bilby and Akima had become some sort of an item. In doing so, Bilby had violated one of the Gamma unit's most cardinal rule. Never emotionally involve yourself with someone in a dimension that you're supposed to protect.  
  
He still remembered that night as if it were yesterday. A Heartless convoy carrying several captured citizens of New Earth was driving up a jungle trail. Akima gave Bilby a tender peck on the cheek as he headed off to his sniper hide to trigger the ambush. The ambush had gone well at first, with the citizens being headed of to Zion, the stronghold of Akima's resistance.  
  
They found the hidden stronghold burned to the ground, the few survivors being slaughtered without mercy by the Heartless. The ambushers were in turn ambushed and three Gamma soldiers went down. The running gunfight that followed was one where the survivors were shot down like dogs, one by one. The unit had regrouped when two shells exploded near their position.  
  
Through his telescopic sight, Bilby could see Akima trying to crawl away. There was a large shrapnel injury in her midsection. The Heartless overran the first group and Bilby could see the Heartless drone put a pistol next to her ear and squeeze the trigger. She was a woman who was vital, full of life, and the Heartless only saw it fit to shoot her down like a dog. Bilby squeezed the trigger, exploding the head of the Heartless gunman. Through the scope, he could see Akima's face, smeared with mud and blood, lifeless and gone.  
  
Martin Bilby sat up in bed breathing hard. He was in a hospital of some kind. There was an IV stuck in his right arm. His leg was bandaged but not broken because there wasn't a cast on it. "Where am I?" he asked.  
  
"You're in the GI Joe Infirmary soldier." The tall blonde nurse said.  
  
"GI Joe?" Bilby said.  
  
"You must've heard of us in the army." The nurse replied.  
  
"No not really." Bilby replied. Bree detected a distinctive Australian accent in the soldier's voice.  
  
"So who's Akima?" Bree asked.  
  
"None of your business." Bilby said defensively.  
  
"She must have been someone special if you're so protective of her." Bree replied.  
  
"I have to speak to your commanding officer." Bilby said and tried to stand up.  
  
"Rest for now." Bree replied.  
  
"How long was I out?" Bilby asked.  
  
"A week." Bree replied.  
  
"A week?" Bilby replied, "There's something I've got to warn your CO about instantly!"  
  
"You mean those Heartless creatures you were muttering about in your sleep." Bree replied.  
  
"Yeah, exactly." Bilby replied.  
  
"We've already encountered them and we already know COBRA's working with them." Bree replied.  
  
Lifeline walked in just then, "Our patient's awake."  
  
"Listen to me, you're in terrible danger!" Bilby stated, sitting bolt upright in bed.  
  
"Calm down." Lifeline said, he talked to his wrist after hitting a button on his watch, "Lady Jaye, this is Lifeline, our patient is up and he says he has valuable Intel on those Heartless guys."  
  
Suddenly Lifeline's hands seemed to glow. "Whoa, what the hell." Bilby said.  
  
"I'm not going to hurt you." Lifeline replied, "Let my touch heal your wounds."  
  
Bilby closed his eyes and it seemed like a wave of serene energy was coursing through him. The stabbing needles of pain in his thigh reduced to small and dull aches and disappeared altogether. In the short meld, Lifeline staggered back, he had absorbed some of Bilby's emotional anguish.  
  
Bilby noticed a slim angular brunette walk into the room, "Are you Bilby?"  
  
"I'm not Dr. Livingston." Bilby replied, "About the Heartless. They are vicious. They seek to destroy and enslave worlds they discover. Think of the universe you live in, then imagine multiple universes existing in infinite quantities. Now imagine a plague that consumes and enslaves those universes. And there you have the Heartless."  
  
"And what about you?" Lady Jaye asked.  
  
"I'm a corporal with the US Army from a different universe. In my world we're fighting the Heartless all over the place. I'm part of a unit called the Gamma Unit, a division of the Special Forces responsible for containing or preventing any Heartless expansion." Bilby replied.  
  
"Thank you, Corporal Bilby." Lady Jaye said.  
  
"Bilby, you have visitors." Bree said.  
  
Several teenage kids walked in just then. The first was a girl with black hair with blue streaks with Chinese coin earrings was first, followed by a shorter fellow with dirty blonde hair they were joined by a green skinned, reptilian-humanoid kid with a shock of dirty blonde hair.  
  
"Who are you guys?" Bilby asked.  
  
"We might ask the same about you." Xi replied.  
  
"Althea Delgato. Don't call me Al." the girl replied.  
  
"Todd Tolansky." Said the non lizard looking boy  
  
"Xi." The lizard replied.  
  
"Martin Bilby." Bilby replied.  
  
"Hey, someone who didn't freak out when seeing Xi for the first time can't be all bad." Althea said, "I'll go talk to my Dad and see if we can't take you in when you get out of the hospital."  
  
"Thanks." Bilby replied. He looked up and grinned, because he recognized a face from the Counterrevolutionary Wing (CRW) posing as one of hundreds of anonymous green shirts on this base. Turns out he wasn't alone after all. The dark haired soldier was Jose Hedaya, another member of his old sniper team before he got rotated into the CRW.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Sergeant Rumpler," said Copperhead, "Will you please care to inform me as to what your mission was?"  
  
"I've told you this before, we're an air rescue team that was sent in after a distress signal was send by a surveillance aircraft." Rumpler replied.  
  
Two Heartless were in the room, "What surveillance aircraft?"  
  
"They never tell us these things." Rumpler replied, "They just told me and my guys that a plane went down, we grabbed our gear and inserted. The Chinook took heavy gunfire and dropped the first group off in the desert. They also accidentally inserted the other half of our group further away from us."  
  
"Seems consistent with a rescue gone wrong, only there's one mistake sergeant." Copperhead replied. "You know what that is?"  
  
"We know you're a commando. One of your men broke. I believe his name was Stoney Brown." Copperhead added. As an interrogator, he knew that that wasn't the case. None of the captives broke. They did have some survivors from the assorted firefights with the Gamma unit troopers, but the key thing as an interrogator, Copperhead knew, was to break the will of the subject to resist.  
  
The Heartless kicked the sergeant in his kneecap, where currently an AK-47 round was lodged. Rumpler winced in pain. "You told us earlier there were seven men on the team. I have here a survivor from that first encounter and he counted eight of you." Copperhead replied.  
  
"Oh, your man was able to count when he was being shot at. If he's a good soldier he should have been shooting at the enemy force." Rumpler replied sarcastically. He got a kick to the ribs from the Heartless for his trouble.  
  
"I know for a fact one of your men, the eighth you failed to tell us about, the sniper I believe it was, got killed." Copperhead replied. He knew that was a blatant outright lie, but Rumpler didn't know that. If the reports were true, that sniper was currently in GI Joe's hands. That sniper had in fact killed, at conservative estimates, nearly ninety COBRA and Heartless troops. The entire eight man team had accounted for over 300 casualties on his side. The fact that eight men armed only with small arms and light machineguns had killed so many was a right humiliation for both the Heartless and COBRA.  
  
"Hah, I bet that sniper blew a hell of a lot of you bastards to hell." Rumpler grinned, despite himself.  
  
He got butt stroked by a rifle in the face. Blood gushed from his mouth, at least two teeth felt loosened. "Take him back to his cell." Copperhead ordered.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Sergeant Jose Hedaya watched Bilby throw on a new set of desert camouflage, courtesy of Cover Girl and his trademark Afrika Korps field cap. "I'll make contact with you later pal." Hedaya replied, he knew that Bilby had seen him.  
  
He was part of mission India Three One, a two-man reconnaissance operation to attempt to determine the fate of Kilo Two Zero. From that info he figured out that Bilby had survived, and not only that, he also figured from intercepted COBRA message traffic that at least ninety enemy troops were shot dead by Bilby's deadly shooting. He also knew that two of Kilo Two Zero's eight men were dead and that another five were in the hands of COBRA.  
  
His top priorities now were to contact Bilby and get on the next mission to attack any COBRA bases for the purpose of rescuing the captured comrades of Kilo Two Zero. Staff Sergeant David Falk, was another sniper team member, a recent graduate of the US Army sniper school. He was also a veteran of the CRW who was working in the communications area, posing as communications unit green shirt where Hedaya was impersonating a medic green shirt.  
  
He ran into Falk at chow, "Hey Dave, I found Bilby. They're moving him into the Misfit house."  
  
"Any way of getting yourself assigned there?" Falk ordered.  
  
"Not unless they need full time medics, anyway they'd probably assign Lifeline down there." Hedaya replied.  
  
"Well, we can set up an observation post outside Shipwreck's house that one of us can man when off duty." Falk whispered back.  
  
"Great idea Dave." Hedaya replied.  
  
"What the hell did I say about calling me Dave. It's either Falk or David, quit calling me that. Only my wife rates doing that." Falk replied.  
  
"Got it." Hedaya replied as he stood up, "Dave."  
  
"Damn you Hedaya." Falk joked back.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Low Light was driving the jeep to Shipwreck's house with Bilby sitting in the front seat. "I've got your rifle and kit back at the house." Low Light said.  
  
"Just be careful of those insane Triplets, the alcoholic parrot, and the flying food and you'll live." Low Light continued.  
  
"Rewind mate, alcoholic parrot, drunken parrot, insane Triplets? What kind of a looney bin is this place?" Bilby asked.  
  
"That's what I'm still trying to figure out and I've been here for quite a while." Low Light replied, "The kids are a little crazy, but after a while they grow on you. I think I'm going soft, this bodyguard assignment is really starting to grow on me."  
  
"Don't let it do that." Bilby replied.  
  
"You're talking from personal experience." Low Light replied, "I'm not gonna ask."  
  
"Well we're here." Low Light said, "And one more thing. If you tell ANY of the Misfits that they've grown on me, I'll kill you."  
  
"Sniper to sniper Low Light, I'm not gonna say a word." Bilby replied.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Up Next: What happens when Bilby moves into the Misfit's household? The answer insanity, food fights and chaos? He survived fighting a massive army of COBRA and Heartless troops, but can he survive the trials and travails of an alcoholic parrot, an insane sailor and family, two mutant babies, and the former Brotherhood.? Stay tuned. 


	5. Meet the Misfits

Meet the Misfits  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before. I don't own the lyrics to Minus Human, Metallica does. Also, this takes place some time after the events of Kingdom Hearts, when Sora and the Heartless became all but myth to humanity. However, the Gamma Unit was created for interdimensional special operations, specifically against the Heartless. Legend tells that the wielder of the Keyblade will return with the King when the time is right.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Welcome to the nuthouse." Low Light muttered and opened the door.  
  
"Wak! Polly want a prozac! Polly want a prozac!" a green parrot came flying past Bilby's face.  
  
"Come back here birdie! We're not gonna hurt you very much this time." One of the Triplets shouted.  
  
"We wanna see if our new flamethrower works properly." Quinn shouted.  
  
"Stay away from them, they just love to experiment with strangers." Low Light said.  
  
"Got it." Bilby shouted. From his years in the Special Forces Bilby knew that appearances were very often deceiving. These three ten year old girls, as harmless as they appeared, sure as hell loaned credit to that theory.  
  
"Little girls playing with flamethrowers, and I thought my dimension was nuts." Bilby groaned to himself.  
  
"That's not the half off it." Low Light replied.  
  
"HELP! Save me!" Pietro screamed.  
  
"Come back here and be clobbered like a man!" shouted a girl with short black hair wearing a red t-shirt and black jeans. The front of her t-shirt was soaking wet, as was her hair.  
  
Bolts of energy shot from her fingers that barely missed the quick running boy. "Get all those dead bugs out of my shampoo right now!" Wanda shouted.  
  
"Hi Low Light! Bye Low Light!" Pietro shouted as he ran away screaming from the angry girl.  
  
"Wanda, calm down! Pietro get back here and meet our guest." Low Light shouted.  
  
"The boy you saw was my brother, Pietro, let's just say he's a little crazy sometimes." Wanda said, "Come back here and fight like a man you sissy weasel!"  
  
"There's a guest room upstairs." Low Light said, "Your gear's in my room, next door."  
  
Bilby walked up the stairs and heard loud music coming out of the room across the hall from the guest room. He looked into the open door way to see a young man with black hair wearing no shirt and a pair of blue jeans. He was dancing around doing the air guitar to the tune of Metallica's I Disappear.  
  
"You like Metallica." Bilby asked.  
  
"Who are you man!?" Avalanche shouted.  
  
"Martin Bilby. I'm a guest at your house." Bilby replied.  
  
"Oh, you're that guy we found on our camping trip." Lance replied.  
  
Bilby noticed an electric guitar leaning against the wall next to an amplifier. "You play?" Bilby asked.  
  
"Yeah. How about you?" Lance asked.  
  
"Yep." Bilby replied, "We used to rock the barracks all the time."  
  
"Cool." Lance said, "I've got an extra guitar in the closet. Wanna jam session?"  
  
"Sure man." Bilby replied, plugging the other guitar into the amp as Lance threw on a black t-shirt.  
  
"NO! NO! NO!" Todd shouted, "Don't try to play music with Lance? You'll destroy the house!"  
  
"Ignore frog boy right here." Lance said, "Ready when you are."  
  
"Hell yeah." Bilby replied.  
  
Both of them revved up their guitars and started to sing, loud but fairly off key. "Don't you leave me, Father Time! Take me with you! Tell me does your sun still shine! Come squeeze the world and drip it down my throat again!"  
  
Althea appeared saying, "Oh God! Two of them! Lance, quit it with the musical numbers!"  
  
"It could be worse. Lance could be singing those love songs he always serenades Kitty with." Todd replied.  
  
"Who's Kitty?" Bilby asked.  
  
"You're gonna die Toad!" Lance said, "Here's why this guitar is called the axe!"  
  
Lance started to chase Toad around with the guitar held over his head. "Kitty is Lance's on again off again girlfriend." Althea replied, "They tease him endlessly about it. Lance has it head over heels for Kitty. Though sometimes I wish Kitty would make up her mind?"  
  
"What do you mean?" Bilby asked.  
  
"You'll find out soon enough." Althea groaned, "Lance will tell you all about it."  
  
"Come back here frog breath! I'll knock you into next week!" Lance's shout could be heard all the way upstairs.  
  
"Aren't you gonna stop them?" Bilby asked.  
  
"Maybe in a bit." Althea replied, "Ah the strain of long distance relationships. You don't seem to be too frazzled by all this."  
  
"My old unit was the same way." Bilby replied. "We had a guy who thought he was as good as any pop rocker, 'Sugar Ray' Murphy. He was your typical wanna be rocker, bleached blonde hair, yellow tint sunglasses, the whole nine yards. He would always be serenading the barracks at the wrong times. Especially when he had one two many pints of scotch he'd think he was Elvis Presley."  
  
"He'd fit right in around here." Althea replied, "About half this base, especially my Dad, could be declared legally insane."  
  
"EEEEEE! EEEEE! EEEE!" came the squawks of two babies crawling across the floor.  
  
"Gotcha!" Bilby shouted and quickly scooped up Barney.  
  
"BAAKK!" Barney shouted and whacked Bilby in the head with his whiffle bat.  
  
"Wanker!" Bilby shouted and Barney jumped into Althea's arms where she was already carrying Claudius.  
  
"I should've warned you about that kid and his whiffle bat." Althea replied.  
  
Bilby didn't reply as he walked downstairs to go grab an ice pack. He didn't get two steps past the staircase when he was hit full in the head with a stream of whipped cream. He ducked behind the couch just as the three triplets, covered in whipped cream, ran away shrieking from the bearded sailor called Shipwreck who was also covered in whipped cream.  
  
Bilby walked upstairs with the ice pack and soaked with whipped cream. "Let me guess, my dad and my insane little sisters were settling disputes in the traditional Delgato manner. Right?" Althea asked.  
  
"Exactly." Bilby replied, "This is almost exactly like my old unit. Especially when "Buckaroo" got into the act."  
  
"Buckaroo?" Althea asked.  
  
"He was another bloke in our squadron who always was the point man, the guy in front, anytime we went on ops. His weapon of choice was a Mossberg 12 gauge shotgun. Any Heartless that ran into him would usually get a BIG surprise whenever he opened fire." Bilby replied, "Anyway, he'd always be blowing shaving cream cans apart with shotgun shells whenever he'd get bored. Then he'd get shaving cream everywhere and that would equal a huge shaving cream fight all over the barracks."  
  
Bilby, despite talking about the memories of his old mates, felt a tinge of pain, the man he had mentioned to Althea, as well as Sugar Ray Murphy were both dead. They were among the seven casualties of the failed mission Foxtrot One Two. There was an eighth casualty on that roster, the soul of one Corporal Martin Bilby. Talking about his pals seemed to bring them back to life, almost as if Sugar Ray and Buckaroo were standing in the room engaging in one of their endless debates which ranged from the best flavor of licorice to the number of licks to get to the center of a tootsie pop. And there was also Akima.  
  
Althea left to put the babies back in their crib as Bilby stood in the hallway lost in his own thoughts. How could he have not been attracted to Akima, so strong yet so vulnerable, so alive with passion for her new homeworld and dedication to her people? He had violated one of the Gamma unit's standard regulations, never fall in love with anyone in a universe you are protecting or attempting to liberate. It had all started when he was training one of her bodyguards, a young Chinese man in his mid twenties named Ling Sui. After Sui had been killed, Bilby replaced him as Akima's bodyguard temporarily. She always insisted she never needed one, but as a way to keep the support of her fellow resistance members, she graciously accepted the offer. Who would have thought that Martin Bilby, the sniper, would let his guard down and fall in love like that?  
  
Sugar Ray and Buckaroo were his buddies through many an op, through thick and thin and through many an insane shaving cream fight. He couldn't help but be reminded of them through Lance and Shipwreck respectively. The Misfits, though they were crazy and demented, were a group that cared about each other through and through. Even Cover Girl, despite her constant clashes with Shipwreck, obviously cared about the crazy sailor in some way. His unit, both his original troop and his new one both served to keep him emotionally afloat as the surrogate family that he had lost many years ago.  
  
The talent of being to read people almost after a few moments of meeting them was honed by years of covert operations to many different dimensions where he had to interact with the inhabitants of various worlds around the multiverse. He knew that at the very heart of the Misfit family was a pure and loving family bond. It was this warmth and love and peace of heart that drew the Heartless like flies to honey. It would drive them to consume the hearts of the denizens of this world, even the hearts of COBRA their own ally. It would ultimately lead them to the very heart of the world of GI Joe and lead to its ultimate destruction, as it had for the Titan AE universe. Bilby lowered his head sadly, there was no way he would allow it to happen, not as long as he, Corporal Martin Bilby, a sniper with 2 Troop, C Squadron was still breathing.  
  
"Dinner time! Wak! Serve the inmates! WAK!" Polly flapped upstairs.  
  
"Alright mate!" Bilby shouted and clomped down the stairs.  
  
Cover Girl joined him at that moment, "So how was your first evening here?"  
  
"Not too bad." Bilby replied, "This actually gives me a feeling of home. It's just like the wing that Charlie Squadron occupies in the barracks. There's so much craziness, and all the comforts of home. You have it good down here."  
  
"Really?" Cover Girl asked.  
  
"You have a unique bond between you all." Bilby replied.  
  
"We're unique alright." Cover Girl replied as they sat down at the table.  
  
"GAKKA WAKKA WAKKA!" Claudius shouted, waving his tiny flippers and flinging a spoonful of applesauce at Bilby.  
  
"This is too much like the squadron." Bilby muttered.  
  
Tearing into their food, one of the Misfits, the fat guy, Fred, spattered Pietro with mashed potatoes. This led to Pietro throwing a spoonful of mashed potatoes at Fred. The potatoes hit Lance instead, who used his powers to shake Pietro's chair apart and caused Quicksilver to fall on his behind.  
  
"Oh Lord give me strength!" Roadblock groaned as a full scale food fight began to break out. Strangely, Bilby didn't seem to be affected.  
  
"Don't worry about it mate," Bilby replied, "As a guest, you just reminded me of my old unit."  
  
Roadblock walked up to the wall and put more dents in it anyway. "Just once, I'd like to go through a meal without a food fight."  
  
"Is this your unique bond?" Cover Girl asked.  
  
"Many times diamonds are found in the rough." Bilby replied.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Coming up next, Bilby remembers Akima and makes important realizations about his life and unit's mission. 


	6. Remebering Akima

Remembering Akima  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before. I don't own the lyrics of Bryan Adam's I Do it For You.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
After the entire Misfit household had collapsed into bed for the night, Bilby found he couldn't sleep. Because, technically, he was still in a combat zone he picked up his rifle and belt kit with some ammunition from the locked safe down in the basement and walked outside until he found a grassy knoll atop a hill overlooking the rugged wilderness outside of the Pit.  
  
The night was clear and the stars shone bright with the light of the half moon. He laid his telescopic rifle across his knees and found the calm center. Every chance he took, he would take his soul out, the tattered remnants of it, and look at it. He could almost hear a voice in his head. Was he going crazy?  
  
"They're beautiful, aren't they snake eater?" said a feminine voice with just a touch of sarcastic humor combined with a musical lilt.  
  
Bilby turned his head and turned pale white, as if he'd seen a ghost. Sure there were legends of spirits that survived whenever worlds were devoured by the Heartless, but those were just campfire tales that the twits in the infantry used to tell the boy soldiers around the bivouacs to give them a good scare or start a good piss up. "Akima?"  
  
"You're not imagining things." Said another female voice. As Bilby turned his head, he could see her, a dark haired, slim and lithe figure leaning against the big stalwart oak tree behind him. Akima.  
  
Bilby turned and saw the Fairy Godmother standing beside him, "The story, the 'Bloody old wives tale' as your fellow soldiers so eloquently put it, is true. The pure of heart, the strong of spirit always survive as mere echoes. They will be restored once the Heartless are defeated and the world restored."  
  
"I'm afraid that can't happen for Akima, for her heart was not taken by the Heartless, she was merely murdered. But when the Heartless are defeated she will return."  
  
"How did she get here though?" Bilby said.  
  
"You humans, when will you learn that you have far more power than you realize." The Fairy Godmother replied.  
  
"I don't have much time Martin." Akima said, "When the sun rises in the morning, I will be gone. I had to find you before I left, because I know how much you're suffering."  
  
"You don't know the half of it." Bilby replied.  
  
Akima walked up to him and sat by his side. He tried to put an arm around her waist, but found she stood as thin as air. "I'm a ghost Martin. And unfortunately I don't have enough time to explain how I got here."  
  
Another star twinkled and then vanished in the night sky, "The Heartless just consumed another world." Bilby said and in that twenty-one year old face Akima's spirit saw that a lot of aging had taken place in the year since she had died physically. Particularly his eyes, there was a noticeable network of wrinkles around the corners. At the young age of twenty one he was growing old.  
  
'Oh Martin, what have they done to you? What happened to that idealistic young soldier that came to free my world from the Heartless just one year ago?' Akima's spirit asked itself.  
  
"But look at all of those worlds out there." Akima said, her hand moving across the horizon, "So many worlds untouched by the Heartless' destruction."  
  
"Don't you remember, silly, you told me those words one night when I was feeling hopeless." Akima's spirit continued.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
One year earlier:  
  
Look into my eyes - you will see.  
  
What you mean to me.  
  
Search your heart - search your soul.  
  
And when you find me there you'll search no more.  
  
Don't tell me it's not worth tryin' for.  
  
You can't tell me it's not worth dyin' for.  
  
You know it's true.  
  
Everything I do - I do it for you.  
  
"It's hopeless." Akima said, as she saw another star in the sky twinkle brightly for a few seconds and then blink out. The mission of Foxtrot One Two was less than two weeks old.  
  
"No it isn't." Bilby replied, adjusting his peaked Afrika Korps field cap atop his head.  
  
"They've already destroyed the Titan, occupied what settlement we had on New Earth, and most of the drifter colonies. It's only so long before they find the heart of this world as your Captain Claremont says." Akima replied.  
  
"We've still got hope, Akima. That's why my team's here, to help you." Bilby replied, sitting beside her.  
  
"Aren't you violating some kind of rule by sitting out here with me?" Akima asked.  
  
"Not really, the rules only mention emotional involvement, not a friendly talk in the middle of a grassy plain." Bilby replied as he smoothed a fern he had accidentally stepped on with his well worn brown paratrooper boot. "It's so peaceful out here." Akima said.  
  
"Yeah." Bilby replied, and decided to go ahead and say what was on his mind, "Have you ever met someone that you just felt you could instantly trust?"  
  
"Cale, after about a few days, he started to grow on me." Akima said.  
  
"Funny, because I think I've just met someone like that just now." Bilby said, gently brushing a tear from Akima's right eye. He drew back his hand almost immediately, that was pushing that single sacred rule of the bodyguard, never get too close to your client.  
  
Akima in fact sidled up beside him, "You know, I could say I've met a second such person. And I can also say that is a rare experience."  
  
Looking into those brown, almond eyes Bilby could see and feel emotional warmth. Indeed in the past couple of weeks they had grown close. He brushed a stray lock of hair away from her face as they leaned into each other's embrace.  
  
Look into my heart - you will find  
  
There's nothin' there to hide  
  
Take me as I am - take my life  
  
I would give it all I would sacrifice  
  
Don't tell me it's not worth fightin' for  
  
I can't help it there's nothin' I want more  
  
Ya know it's true  
  
Everything I do - I do it for you  
  
Ever since that night in the field, Bilby and Akima had grown close. It showed in subtle yet noticeable ways. The way Akima's hand gently brushed against Bilby's whenever they could find a moment and she would give his hand a reaffirming squeeze. The way they'd smile at each other when one came back from a raid and the other was back at the encampment. The way that Bilby seemed to assume a vast majority of the security work for the leader of the Titan resistance movement.  
  
"You really care about her, don't you Bilby?" said Captain Claremont.  
  
"You mean Akima sir?" Bilby asked.  
  
"As a human being, you do rate emotions but you also rate controlling them." Claremont replied, "You know the rule."  
  
"Never emotionally attach yourself to anyone from another dimension." Bilby replied.  
  
"I expect you to hold to that rule." Claremont said.  
  
"Yes sir." Bilby replied. It wasn't just because Claremont outranked Bilby that was making this tough, it was also the fact that Bilby respected Claremont as an old school friend. It was Claremont that was responsible for the saving of the Chip and Dale's Rescue Ranger's universe from the Heartless two years before.  
  
There's no love - like your love  
  
And no other - could give more love  
  
There's nowhere - unless you're there  
  
All the time - all the way  
  
"We're alone right now, you know." Bilby replied.  
  
Akima smiled as he drew her into his arms. He tilted his head sideways so that their noses wouldn't bump as he kissed her. Both Bilby and Akima knew that this romance was one born of desperation. If this world was successfully liberated, then the containment barrier would be erected around it and the Heartless or anyone else would never enter this universe. If the mission failed, one or both of them would be dead.  
  
Their's was a furtive relationship, with the knowing smile as they passed each other, the very occasional kiss or embrace, the rare moments alone between the missions that hurt the Heartless control of the Titan universe. Little did they know they had been seen by some other eyes. Stith realized she had to confront Akima.  
  
Don't tell me it's not worth tryin' for  
  
I can't help it there's nothin' I want more  
  
I would fight for you - I'd lie for you  
  
Walk the wire for you - Ya I'd die for you  
  
"Akima?" said Stith, "What were you doing with that soldier?  
  
"You mean Bilby." Akima replied, "There's nothing going on."  
  
"Don't tell me that!" Stith challenged, "I saw you two together. Break it off, I told you what his commander told him."  
  
"I can't just break his heart like that. He's been through so much, lost his entire family to the Heartless." Akima said.  
  
"Lie to him." Stith said, "Break his heart to save his life. I overheard two of those Gamma soldiers saying that the price of what you two have is the death penalty for him."  
  
"Remember Akima, lie to the boy to save his life." Stith said, "You hold his life in your hands. I can only cover you for so long. If anyone else catches you or tells Captain Claremont, that boy faces death by hanging rather than risking him losing his heart to despair and potentially turning him towards the Darkness."  
  
Akima sat stunned, as Stith continued. Her alien friend indicated the soldier sitting at the gun turret, "Do you really want to be responsible for his death? Do what's best for both of you and break this off."  
  
That night Akima wrote a letter and left it by the sleeping soldier. The tears in her eyes made it hard to concentrate, but she knew that to save his life, she had to hurt his heart.  
  
Ya know it's true  
  
Everything I do - I do it for you  
  
"You still have it don't you." Akima's spirit asked.  
  
"Yeah. The letter that says, 'Dear Martin, I love you but I just can't be with you.' I've carried it around with me for all this time." Bilby replied, removing his field cap. Inside it was a small pocket sewn into the top. There was a pouch where a letter and a small portrait of Akima from happier times were kept.  
  
"I always wondered why you wore a World War II German field cap." Akima mused, "Considering you're part of a unit that's dedicated to freeing the oppressed."  
  
"Well, I did that for irony," Bilby replied, "The fact that I am a member of a unit dedicating to freeing the oppressed yet I wear a symbol of the oppressors of the past was an attempt to suggest some sense of irony."  
  
"I thought it was the most contradictory thing I ever saw. But you're about the only person I know who looks good wearing a World War II German field cap." Akima replied.  
  
"I guess I'm alone again." Bilby said, looking at his watch, "In about an hour you'll be gone forever."  
  
"I wouldn't go so far as to say you're alone." Akima said, "Didn't tell me you volunteered for the Special Forces for the camaraderie of being part of an elite unit?"  
  
"I did, yeah?" Bilby replied.  
  
"Well then you had your fellow members of Charlie Squadron as your family." Akima's spirit said, "I know they may not have the same place in your heart that I occupy, at least I hope they don't, because I'd worry about you batting for two teams throughout the afterlife."  
  
"Don't worry, I'm definitely batting for the straight team." Bilby replied, grinning weakly.  
  
She heard a jeep pull up, and recognizing the two faces in the jeep as David Falk and Jose Hedaya she said, "Remember, you're never alone."  
  
Bilby felt a tear well up in his right eye, "I'll never forget you Akima."  
  
"I'll never forget you either Martin." Akima replied as the sun started to rise, "Remember, you're never alone as long as you have your friends and your unit. Keep your heart in the light and never surrender to darkness. Farewell Martin Bilby..."  
  
"Akima." Bilby said, the tears showing openly.  
  
"Are you okay man?" said David Falk.  
  
"I'm damn fine fellas." Bilby said, genuinely, as he slung his rifle and put an arm over each friend's shoulder, "As long as I have my friends I'm never alone."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
What happens when Cobra Commander decides to cross a sorceress? Conspiracy and chaos abound in the next installment of Kilo Two Zero. 


	7. Never Cross a Sorceress

Never Cross a Sorceress  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before. Maleficent is a Disney owned character, and not my own. However, the eight man Gamma team, and the soldiers of its dimension are my creation. You fellows could use a break from all the angst and action.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Cobra Commander sat behind his desk, reading the transcription of the interrogation of the five prisoners that had been captured nearly two weeks ago. So far, Copperhead and Major Bludd were only able to extract a cover story out of them that they were part of an aerial rescue unit and that there were only seven of them. However, several post encounter reports that a few vipers wrote revealed there to be eight commandoes.  
  
A familiar sound and a dark shimmering revealed an all too familiar annoyance. A tall, gaunt woman with long black horns projecting from her head and wearing a black cape emerged. "What do you want Maleficent?" Cobra Commander asked.  
  
"The cooperation of your forces for the subjugation of this world." Maleficent replied.  
  
"I assure you, Madam Sorceress that my men are doing everything they can to work with your Heartless." Cobra Commander replied.  
  
"I understand you captured five human infiltrators from another dimension." Maleficent replied.  
  
"Yes, we have. They claimed they were members of a seven man airborne rescue unit." Cobra Commander asked, "Capturing them was no trouble and we killed two of them."  
  
"How many were there?" Maleficent asked.  
  
"The prisoners said seven, but our post action report says eight." Cobra commander replied.  
  
"Fool! That means that one of them made it to the GI Joe base and warned them of our presence." Maleficent replied.  
  
"Just one minute! I am in command in this world that was our agreement!" Cobra Commander replied, "Our troops handled those eight men well enough and your presence is not needed."  
  
"Moron! Those eight men accounted for at least 372 of your men and my Heartless killed in nearly four days of running gunfights." Maleficent replied, "Even a handful of these operators in any world can seriously ruin my plans."  
  
"YOUR plans?" Cobra Commander replied, "We had a deal."  
  
"I need your troops and bases Cobra Commander, but don't think I can't take them by force. My plans include more than taking this paltry world of yours." Maleficent replied.  
  
Cobra Commander stood up, shouting, "Guards."  
  
He sat back down, blushing under his mask. He looked down at his legs in absolute horror. He saw he was wearing a frilly pink tutu with ballet slippers and pink tights.  
  
"Never cross a sorceress Cobra Commander." Maleficent shouted.  
  
Ripper and Buzzer ran in, "What do you need? Why are you wearing a pink tutu?"  
  
"Nothing. Never mind!" Cobra Commander shouted.  
  
POOF! Maleficent pointed at Buzzer and instantly he was wearing a Heartless cheerleader ensemble complete with pom poms. She pointed at Ripper and turned him into a strange creature with Ripper's face with a mane that resembled the petals of a flower. Now Ripper walked on all fours with pickle slice-like feet, his skin was now a blue with yellow pokka dots and he had a flagstaff like tail with a white flag that had a baseball with a screw going through it.  
  
"Make that never ever cross a sorceress Cobra Commander." Maleficent replied icily as she walked out of the portal through whence she had came.  
  
"Bang! Ha ha ha ha ha!" came the familiar shout. A rocket came flying into the room and exploded on the other side of the room throwing debris, desks, and shelves everywhere.  
  
Metal Head walked into the room, "Did I get her Boss? Huh? Bang! Ha ha ha ha ha!" Metal Head shouted.  
  
Another rocket flew into the ceiling and exploded a huge hole into the roof. Cobra Commander crawled out from under a shelf. "I hate my life...." Cobra Commander groaned.  
  
"Boss, why are you wearing a pink tutu?" Metal Head asked.  
  
"Metal Head, if you wish to remain living you will not ever, ever ask me that question again!" Cobra Commander replied, "Also you will never mention it to any other soul on this facility.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Fetterman suppressed a laugh, it was amazing he could even find humor, given his current situation of being blindfolded and handcuffed in the back of a truck. Over the radio he swore he could hear the two drivers, Copperhead and Major Bludd laughing about a piece of information from another COBRA, saying that Cobra Commander was wearing a pink tutu.  
  
Sergeant Rumpler was openly grinning about this little bit of information. "Remind me to put this Metal Head fellow up for the Congressional Medal of Honor after we get out of this sir."  
  
"No talking!" said a viper, hitting Rumpler in the guts. He doubled over.  
  
Presently Rumpler was thrown into a cell while Fetterman was led into an office of some sort. Cobra Commander was standing off at a distance with a wall that went as high as his waist between him and Fetterman. He did a couple pirouettes towards Fetterman.  
  
"Hey twinkle toes, your frills are showing." Fetterman replied. Even though Cobra Commander had thrown on a pair of pants, he was cursed with the fact that the tutu could not be removed and that even if it were somehow removed he would be dancing ballet steps everywhere.  
  
'I'm gonna kill the person who invented spandex.' Cobra Commander thought.  
  
Copperhead knee kicked Fetterman in the ribs, though it was obvious that the COBRA swamp rat was trying not to laugh at his ballet dancing commander. "You are in hell now, Captain Fetterman..." Cobra Commander said with an intimidating voice.  
  
"If this is hell, I wonder how funny heaven is." Fetterman replied sarcastically.  
  
He got another elbow to the cheek by Major Bludd. "That's funny?" Ripper said, "All of a sudden I don't feel like myself."  
  
The sight that greeted the four men was one that was extremely funny. "A strange sight greeted them. Ripper's face was still normal, but the four legged creature with a flower petal mane, a yellow pokka dotted blue hide, pickle like feet, and a flagpole tail with the screw ball flag was obviously not Ripper.  
  
"COBRA! Heartless! Rah! Rah! Rah!" shouted Buzzer as he danced into the room, waving his pom poms around.  
  
"What on earth?" Major Bludd said.  
  
Copperhead was rolling around on the floor, laughing hysterically. Major Bludd was also similarly distracted by the sight. "Rah! Rah! Down with GI Joe! Rah! Rah! Rah!" Buzzer shouted, dancing around, waving his pom poms.  
  
As Copperhead rolled behind Fetterman's chair, Fetterman surreptitiously grabbed his keys. He had a few plans as he watched Cobra Commander do a particularly graceful mid air split and land on his toes doing a pirouette. He, Ripper, and Buzzer indignantly left the room.  
  
Copperhead and Major Bludd both pulled out miniature digital cameras and chased them. "Perfect." Fetterman replied, though he was sore and aching, part of his training included faking injuries. He unlocked his handcuffs and ran to Sergeant Rumpler's cell.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"HA HA HA HA HA!" Destro laughed heartily as he saw Cobra Commander's pants fall down, revealing the pink tutu he was desperately trying to hide.  
  
"Curse you Maleficent!!!" Cobra Commander shouted at the air, shaking his fist as he twinkle toe stepped across the floor. He did yet another aerial pirouette.  
  
"Well certainly you're more graceful than usual Commander." The Baroness laughed.  
  
Almost every COBRA in the base was flocking into the halls to watch the insanity. "COBRA COBRA! La La La! Rule the world! Rah! Rah! Rah!" Buzzer yelled, doing a mid-air flip and colliding with Cobra Commander in the middle of his aerial pirouette.  
  
In the security room, all the vipers that were supposed to be monitoring, they didn't see Fetterman helping Rumpler out of his cell because they were too busy laughing at the spectacle of Cobra Commander's newfound ballet skills, Buzzer's recent cheerleading act, and Ripper's new look.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Fetterman jumped into the COBRA speed boat and gunner the motors. He got on the radio, "GI Joe, this is Captain Fetterman! Have just escaped from a COBRA prison. Need immediate extraction!"  
  
"You idiots!" Cobra Commander shouted as he bounded across the docks, "They're getting away!"  
  
"Go Team! Go! Capture the escaping soldiers now!" Buzzer shouted, waving pom poms and doing another aerial.  
  
Meanwhile, at the remains of a COBRA base camp: Bilby fired two more rifle rounds at a pair of fleeing Heartless, shooting them in the back of their heads. Low Light took out a third one with his own rifle.  
  
"Bilby, Low Light, get in the helicopter!" Wild Bill shouted, "Give the team some aerial sniper cover."  
  
Xi impaled a Heartless through the head with his claws, getting it's tar black blood all over himself. "That's the last of them Toad." Xi replied.  
  
"Hey, guys, look!" Althea shouted. In one room was a curly haired man, strapped to a gurney.  
  
"He's still alive." Toad said. "Lance, make a hole, we've gotta get him out of here."  
  
Lance used his powers to make a large hole in the ceiling. "Wild Bill, lower us a rope." Lance said over the radio.  
  
They attached the gurney to the rope and lifted the man into the chopper. Blob came back, carrying a fellow with longish curly hair on his back. "I've found another one."  
  
"There's another one somewhere in the building." Stoney groaned weakly.  
  
"I'm on it!" Pietro shouted. In about a second he returned with Link in his arms.  
  
"Quicksilver, Blob, Lance, teleport these three back to the base." Roadblock ordered.  
  
"Yes sir." Lance said.  
  
Over the radio came Cover Girl's voice, "Roadblock, I just got an SOS at these coordinates."  
  
The coordinates appeared on Roadblock's wristcom. "The mass device is overloaded. With all that work it's done a fuse must've exploded."  
  
"I'll get us there!" Wild Bill said over the radio and the remaining Misfits along with Cover Girl and Roadblock got inside the helicopter.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"They're getting away you idiots!" Cobra Commander yelled at Copperhead and Major Bludd as they lead an armada of COBRA speedboats after Fetterman and Rumpler.  
  
"Go Offense! Go! Rah! Rah! Rah!" Buzzer shouted.  
  
Cobra Commander pirouetted across the bridge of the boat, and the two Eels on the machineguns were barely suppressing laughter at their commander. Suddenly a helicopter appeared on the horizon.  
  
"Give me a clear shot!" Bilby said over his radio headset.  
  
"You got it!" Wild Bill shouted.  
  
Bilby fired a tracer round at one of the COBRA boats, knocking a Heartless gunner from his perch. Roadblock followed through with his minigun, knocking Heartless and COBRA alike off their boats like pins at a bowling alley.  
  
Wild Bill lowered a rope sling and air lifted Fetterman's boat out of the water. "The Mass Device is fixed." Cover Girl said from the co-pilot's seat.  
  
"RPG!" Bilby shouted. As the rocket streaked towards the helicopter, the helicopter vanished from sight thanks to the workings of the Mass Device.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"You fool!" Maleficent shouted at COBRA Commander, "Because of your tomfoolery the prisoners escaped!"  
  
"Excuse me sorceress, you turning Buzzer into COBRA's own personal cheerleader, turning Ripper into God knows what that thing is, and turning me into a ballerina really affected the performance of my troops on the job because they were too busy laughing at me instead of doing their jobs!" Cobra Commander shouted back.  
  
Poof! A tiara appeared on Cobra Commander's head. "Now they have still more cause to laugh at you." Maleficent replied.  
  
"If your troops weren't able to do their jobs because they were too engrossed in your present plight it's no wonder that GI Joe always defeats you." Maleficent replied.  
  
"Ohhh if you weren't a woman and a sorceress...." Cobra Commander glowered.  
  
"Maleficent One! Cobra Commander Zero! YAY! RAH RAH RAH!" Buzzer cheered.  
  
"Well at least your cheerleader know who's bad side not to get on - "Maleficent replied.  
  
"I know: Never cross a sorceress." Cobra Commander replied.  
  
"Ah, it appears you are capable of learning." Maleficent replied, as she undid the curse, "There's hope for you yet."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Well, how are you liking this so far? Any suggestions on what could happen next? I'm open to suggestion. Are you for more angst? Action? Humor? Or all of the above? Review and let me know.. 


	8. Vae Victus

Vae Victus  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
For yet another night, Martin Bilby couldn't sleep. He had been having trouble sleeping since the Titan mission. He would be lucky if he averaged four to six hours of sleep a night, maximum. Sleep tended to bring back dreams of the past, painful memories and faces of those he knew were no longer living. Also he could see the countless Heartless he had killed, the last sight picture before they realized they were going to die in his sight. He could feel that sour feeling he always got after combat missions. No matter how many Heartless he would kill it never erased the pain of the lost loved ones killed during the Heartless attack on his home in Sapphire Bay when he was fourteen.  
  
The house still burned brightly as the dark storm continued its path across Australia. Only half an hour ago the Heartless had killed Mom and Dad. Michael and David followed, killed trying to run, their bodies grew stiff in the back yard. That much the boy knew, hiding under his bed, carrying a diving knife in his hands. A Heartless shadow came inside the room and the boy, who had spent half an hour crying, ashamed of his tears, he was near manhood yet he was crying like a child. He saw the creature and charged, screaming half from fear and half from a primal rage.  
  
He knocked the Heartless to the ground with the sheer surprise of his assault. He started stabbing the creature again and again with the knife; he didn't know where to begin. The creature fought back with its hands, leaving cuts and welts in the boy's flesh, but the child was beyond caring. Rage filled his being and he kept stabbing at the creature until it's attempts to fight back became more sporadic, born more of reflexive and random firings of nerve impulses rather than any concerted attempt to fight back against its attacker.  
  
That didn't matter to the boy, his face was slick with blood, sweat and tears as he kept stabbing the creature, even as black blood gushed from its wounds and a gurgling could be heard from the creature's throat as it feebly tried to shove the boy's knife hand from its midsection. The young Bilby hacked at the creature's midsection again and again until pale blue coils of intestine spilled onto the tan carpet of his room, joining the splatters of black blood on the floor. The boy continued hacking at the corpse even long after the Heartless was dead. It was only the running footsteps of the other Heartless drones in the house that drew him into hiding yet again.  
  
As he crawled through the ventilation ducts, he could see his father lying killed in the middle of the living room floor, his mother's body not too far away. All the boy cared for now was revenge, nothing more and nothing less. He went to the Army recruitment station the next day, lying about his age, saying he was sixteen years old. The lie went undetected and he was sent to Basic training two days after Sapphire Bay burned brightly in the night sky. ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
The world was a faint shade of green through the night vision goggles as Martin Bilby crept through the darkened city. This was his first mission as a Gamma operator and he drew his knife silently from his scabbard as he snuck behind a Heartless sentry. He grabbed the creature's antennae, pulled back and slashed deeply and quickly across the thing's throat.  
  
The creature thrashed and bucked, it's body was dying as its black blood sprayed into the concrete floor. The creature turned right side up again, its eyes glowing cinnabar red and it screamed a gurgling, "RRRARRGGHHH!" before it expired.  
  
Martin Bilby woke up, bathed in a cold sweat. He pulled on his trousers and his sand brown t-shirt. He grabbed a roll of athletic tape and wrapped it around his wrists and knuckles and walked down into the basement where the training room was. He started throwing punches at the bag, ducking, throwing a mean left handed hook. He had to vent all that angst inside him. The Heartless had taken everything away from him, everything that truly mattered. The house could be replaced, his family's material possessions could be replaced as well, but the friends, neighbors and family that were killed could not. Then there was Akima, one of the few people in his entire life that had taken time to know the gentle personality under the tough guy façade he always cultivated. Aside from his few friends in the squadron, his fellow soldiers viewed him with a mixture of fear and disdain. The feeling was mutual, he felt betrayed in turn. The military not only offered him revenge against the Heartless, but also a fresh start from the kid that everyone kicked around in high school.  
  
He slipped sideways and threw another right handed hook. He had quickly become his company boxing champion as an outlet vent his frustration and rage. When he realized no matter where he went he would be the social outcast, the last person anyone in the unit wanted to go out in town with or hang around, he focused solely on becoming the perfect warrior.  
  
Another few punches on the bag. It didn't matter anymore who he conjured in front of him when he did this. It could be the bullies that taunted him throughout his childhood, his cliquish and often ignorant fellow soldiers in the 25th Infantry Division who viewed him as a childish wannabe even after he had proven himself, or it could be those idiots in his own 2 Troop who viewed him as a psychopath after the Titan mission. All he knew is that it felt good to vent his fury.  
  
"Someone is burning the midnight oil." Said a voice.  
  
He turned to see Cover Girl standing behind him, "Anyone I know?"  
  
"Yeah, the green headed jackass himself who tried to get me to take off my field cap." Bilby shouted angrily. It was a weak reason, and he knew it, but he didn't want to involve Cover Girl or anyone else in his own angst ridden ritual.  
  
"Beach Head's a jerk about anything that doesn't follow the regulations but you shouldn't take it personally." Cover Girl replied, "Besides that cap is nothing to be angry about."  
  
"It was a last gift from my father before the Heartless killed him. It was given to me on my fourteenth birthday." Bilby replied, "If Beach Head tries to touch it again, he will feel my full wrath."  
  
"It's not easy to lose people you love is it?" Cover Girl asked.  
  
Bilby jabbed the bag twice with his left then struck it with his right then slipped left and hooked the side of the bag. "You don't know the half of it." Bilby replied.  
  
"The Heartless must've done something really bad to you to make you hate them so much." Cover Girl replied.  
  
"They killed everyone I loved and cared about, so I joined a profession where I could kill a lot of them." Bilby replied coldly.  
  
"Do you realize that the law of an eye for an eye just means there are two one eyed men walking around?" Cover Girl said, "I've seen the way you fight, the chances you take. The complete lack of mercy you show wounded enemies."  
  
"Those who side themselves with the Heartless become Heartless themselves." Bilby replied, "That viper I shot during the raid could easily have become a Heartless given the time. I was following my standard operating procedure; invariably villains in other dimensions turn into Heartless themselves when they try to bargain with that race."  
  
Cover Girl was talking about the last raid where Bilby had discovered a wounded young COBRA soldier whose body was halfway mutated into the shadow form of a Heartless. Bilby simply pulled out his pistol and shot the boy between the eyes. She could see the hardness in Bilby's expression, as if he had done this before. There was no lie in Bilby's statement, it was the SOP to kill any life form encountered that appeared to be transforming into a Heartless.  
  
"What happened on the Titan mission?" Cover Girl asked.  
  
Bilby froze and said, "I don't know what you're talking about?"  
  
"The kids said different. When you were out cold when we found you, we heard you muttering something about the Titan mission." Cover Girl said.  
  
Bilby was about to reply with something snappy when he realized he couldn't lose anything by talking about it. He told Cover Girl all about the Titan mission, about how he risked his neck for his furtive relationship with Akima. He told her about how he lost her as well as the rest of his team and was transferred to a different squadron and troop because it was procedure that lone survivors would be moved to different units to theoretically ease them of the pain and survivor guilt. But in Bilby's opinion it was just pushing the problems of the soldier in question on a completely new unit.  
  
"No wonder you couldn't talk about what really was hurting you." Cover Girl said, "There's someone on this base that you should talk to about this. I'll set an appointment with Psyche Out for you."  
  
"Psyche Out?" Bilby asked.  
  
"He's our resident shrink." Cover Girl replied, "About half the soldiers on this base, not to mention the Misfits started out like you. They all needed help, some still do, and it sounds like you do as well."  
  
Cover Girl left the room, leaving Bilby alone with his thoughts. As soon as she was out, he leaned against the punching bag. He repeated words that he had spoken as the Black Hawk helicopter landed to pick him up after the failed Titan mission.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Bilby felt the Black Hawk take off, flying into the air, flying its circuit around the area where the other members had fallen. He could see two other helicopters with the rescue unit to recover the seven bodies of the dead Gamma unit members. He took up his sniper rifle to provide sniper cover for the extract.  
  
"Vae Victus. Suffering to the Conquered. Ironic now that I was the one suffering. Not from anything as pedestrian as physical pain. Rather from the cruel jab of impotent anger, a desire to avenge those slain by the Heartless." Bilby replied, his speech reminiscent of the opening speech from Blood Omen, Legacy of Kain, his favorite video game.  
  
A year later, when he volunteered for the mission called Kilo Two Zero. He could almost hear the voice of the character, the necromancer Moritanius that turned Kain into a vampire in the game, saying, "You will have the blood you hunger for."  
  
"I must be going crazy." Bilby replied, when his mind returned to the present, "First I'm quoting a favorite video game, and now I'm hearing one of the characters in it. And what blood do I hunger for."  
  
In the back of his mind, Bilby could hear Moritanius yet again, "You know the blood for which you hunger..."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Up next, what happens when Bilby meets Psyche Out, the psychotic shrink? The answer, coming up in the next chapter. Also in the next chapter, the men of Kilo Two Zero meet the X-men. Can they survive the crossfire between the Misfits and the X-men? 


	9. Therapy, Xmen, and Disaster

Therapy, Disaster and X-men  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before. I do not own the lyrics to La Bamba either. I also borrowed an idea from one of Red Witch's General Meeting fics.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
As Bilby walked into Psyche Out's office the next day he could hear music blaring out of it. He peeked inside and could see a Hispanic man with an MP Armband with a blonde haired fellow in a green uniform. He figured the blonde fellow was Psyche Out since the Hispanic guy, Law, had broken up his fist fight with Beach Head yesterday.  
  
Law had an acoustic guitar and Psyche Out was behind the drum set. They were singing off key, "Para bailar la bamba. Para bailar la bamba se necesita una poca de gracia. Una poca de gracia y otra cosita. Y arriba y arriba.Y arriba y arriba y arriba ire. Yo no soy marinero. Yo no soy marinero, por ti sere. Por ti sere, por ti sere."  
  
"Bamba, bamba, bamba, bamba. Bamba, bamba. Bamba." Law was the lead singer in this guitar/drum duet.  
  
"Come inside," Psyche Out said, "We could use another guitar."  
  
"Sure mate." Bilby replied and got the electric guitar that Psyche Out had set up.  
  
Bilby picked up the beat as Law kept on singing, "Para bailar la bamba. Para bailar la bamba se necesita una poca de gracia. Una poca de gracia pa mi pa ti. Ay y arriba y arriba. Y arriba y arriba y arriba ire. Yo no soy marinero. Yo no soy marinero, soy capitan. Soy capitan, soy capitan."  
  
"Bamba, bamba, bamba, bamba. Bamba, bamba. Bamba." Law and Psyche Out continued with Bilby doing the guitar solos.  
  
"Thank you Psyche Out." Law said.  
  
"Oh no, the pleasure was all mine." Psyche Out replied, "We should do this again sometimes. Don't worry about Order being the father of Snakeyes' dog's puppies."  
  
"I'm not now. I'm a little miffed that I'm a grandfather suddenly." Law replied, "But I'll get over it."  
  
"Keep out of trouble next time my friend." Law said, "It's a good thing I witnessed Beach Head being a jerk and didn't have to extract statements from you two in the brig."  
  
"Gotcha, and next time you hold one of these little jam sessions, let me know." Bilby replied.  
  
"You seemed to enjoy the jam session. You must've enjoyed it even more with the guys from your old 3 Troop." Psyche Out replied.  
  
Bilby looked surprised as Psyche Out continued, "It hasn't quite been the same without them, has it. Even though you can be tough to get along with, they accepted you as a brother, the surrogate family you had been seeking since your family were killed."  
  
"I remember a couple of the guys, Shades and Mario." Bilby said, "We used to play that all the time. Hell, even if Captain Claremont came into the barracks to shut us up, which was extremely rare, we'd just ask him if he had any song requests."  
  
"Tell me about Shades and Mario. Judging from what you said, they must've been good friends of yours." Psyche Out replied.  
  
"Shades, he was Specialist Grover Kiley, he was a Southern California kid with the standard '80s haircut. We called him shades because he wore sunglasses all the time just for the hell of it. Sergeant Mario Juarez was a fellow from San Jose, Costa Rica, with a surfer flattop. He was one hell of a lead singer who could've given Enrique Iglesias a run for his money. Mario, Shades, and I were part of a three man sniper team in my old troop."  
  
"Were either of them on the Titan mission?" Psyche Out asked.  
  
"No. But a good friend of ours was. Corporal Wallace "Wally" Mertens, from Los Angeles, California, he was our medic who originally came from the 82nd Airborne Division." Bilby replied, "I would say he had the biggest heart in the entire squadron because we had a veritable litter of stray cats behind the barracks he was always feeding them or treating them medical problems. Because he was the new guy, and very kind hearted, a lot of the more macho guys liked to mess with him. We always stood up for him. Hell Shades, Mario, and I used to split up the bill to go buy his cats their food and medical supplies while Wally tended to take care of any medical problems we had."  
  
"What happened to him?" Psyche Out asked, he knew some details from what Cover Girl had told him, but he didn't know too much.  
  
"He was killed trying to treat four wounded resistance fighters." Bilby asked.  
  
Briefly Bilby's mind wandered again, he could see that shell burst that had wounded Akima had also injured at least six other people. The Heartless were already shooting people and Wally ran over, firing his CAR-15 on full auto.  
  
"Wally, stay back!" Bilby shouted, firing single, accurate shots that killed a Heartless every time he squeezed the trigger.  
  
The short, somewhat stubby little medic didn't care, he kept running towards the wounded, bandaging and treating their wounds. Bilby saw about five Heartless running towards Wally's position and opened fire, hitting all five of them.  
  
He jumped over the rock and joined Wally behind a large fallen tree where he had gathered the four wounded survivors. He kept firing his long, telescopic rifle with Wally handing him his CAR-15 whenever Bilby's rifle ran out. Wally would be reloading Bilby's weapon whenever Bilby was firing the other weapon.  
  
Suddenly one of the Heartless in the pile of corpses in front of the fallen tree threw a grenade over the tree trunk. "Bilby get down!" Wally shouted and jumped on top of it. The grenade exploded, throwing shards of metal into Wally's midsection and heart, killing him instantly. The explosion had flung Wally on his back, and Bilby looked into the pale blue eyes of the extremely compassionate medic.  
  
Bilby kept on fighting until he heard Captain Claremont shouting to get back up the hill. "Where's Wally?" Claremont asked.  
  
"He's mortal captain, he's mortal!" Bilby shouted, "He's dead!"  
  
Bilby's mind wandered back to the present, "The roster of the seven guys killed was Captain Jeremy Claremont, Sergeant Unger "Sugar Ray" Murphy, Corporal Harmon "Buckaroo" Bokai, Corporal Wallace Mertens, Specialist Nicholas Poiters, Specialist Jacob Wiersbowski, and Private First Class Todd Flanagan."  
  
"Seven guys you served with, seven guys that were practically brothers to you." Psyche Out replied, "It must've hurt to have lost them and your forbidden love all on the same day."  
  
"Hell, even when Claremont had the rules hanging over my head, he didn't deserve to have 3 entire magazines of AK-47 rounds emptied into him." Bilby replied.  
  
"And shooting the Heartless that did this didn't bring him back, right?" Psyche Out replied, "Granted you felt your desire for revenge slacken whenever you killed the Heartless but as soon as the operation had ended it came back, didn't it. That's why you volunteered for every single operation that the troop was involved in."  
  
"October 25, 2002." Bilby replied, "The Feast of Crispian, a day where I will remember with advantages what feats I did that day. When I strip my sleeve and show my scars, the two cuts I got that day healed, but all my scars are inside."  
  
"Emotional wounds very often are sometimes worse than physical wounds." Psyche Out agreed.  
  
"Jeremy Claremont was a junior when I was a freshman, very often he protected me from those idiots that liked to mess with freshmen all the time." Bilby replied. "I can see why seeing friends that you felt close to being killed would make you desire to kill the Heartless with a single mindedness matched only by Beach Head's devotion to Sgt. Snuffles." Psyche Out replied, "It's a teddy bear that he never lets out of his sight. Beach Head destroyed the auditorium countless times whenever anyone took Sergeant Snuffles."  
  
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HOLDING SERGEANT SNUFFLES!!!???" came the shout. Shipwreck was running for dear life past Psyche Out's office window while Beach Head chased him with a crowbar.  
  
"I see." Bilby replied.  
  
"He's just like you with that field cap of yours. You said it was a gift from your family." Psyche Out said.  
  
"Yeah, it was a gift for me on my fourteenth birthday, the day my family was massacred by the Heartless." Bilby replied.  
  
"Is that the reason you became a sniper, because you had to kill one at very close range with a knife." Psyche Out replied.  
  
"It took too long, and it was so messy. I didn't care, I just wanted to seriously hurt that creature for the loss it inflicted on my family." Bilby replied.  
  
"With each person that you cared about that the Heartless killed, the hunger for revenge grew, didn't it." Psyche Out replied, "When they took Akima from you, one of the few people in your life you feel treated you with any sort of affection outside of your family it made you even more vengeful."  
  
Bilby blinked a tear from his eye, "What really complicated matters was the fact that romance had fate against it from the very start. If we had succeeded in driving the Heartless off, it would mean that we would erect a containment barrier around that world and Akima and I would never see each other again. If the mission failed, one or both of us would be dead."  
  
"So when you came back from the Titan mission you vowed you wouldn't ever get close to anyone again so that the Heartless couldn't hurt you." Psyche Out concluded, "Well one thing's for sure, Bilby, pain like that doesn't go away over night, but don't you think that your to hell with all of you attitude is a cop out?"  
  
"I'll think about it." Bilby replied.  
  
Bilby decided to take a long walk around the base, doing some deep thinking until he walked by the airfield. He felt the tremor as he saw a large black jet parked on the runway. He also could hear explosions. He drew his sidearm immediately and switched the safety off. He crept around the edge of the jet, expecting to see a swarm of Heartless streaming onto the base.  
  
What he saw was still more unexpected. He could see another group of teenagers duking it out with the Misfits. He could see Lance and some big fellow coated with what looked like metal around his body shouting at each other. Lance was throwing tremors while metal muscles was charging him. The tremor sent metal boy flying across the runway.  
  
"Lance you can be such a jerk sometimes!" a female voice shouted. It belonged to a slender brunette carrying what looked like a tiny winged dragon in her arms.  
  
"OW! Ororo, I was asking an honest question." Shipwreck moaned, rubbing his eye socket where Ororo had punched him.  
  
"Asking me, 'Is it hot out here or is it you?' is not an honest question." Ororo replied.  
  
"You are a weather witch aren't you?" Shipwreck asked.  
  
"Well it's time to see why they call me Storm!" Ororo replied, calling down lightning to fry Shipwreck's butt.  
  
"YEOWCH!!!!!!" Shipwreck yelled as a tiny black lightning spewing storm cloud chased him around, sending lightning bolts to fry his butt.  
  
He could see Althea and Jean getting into a fairly violent shouting match with Toad and Scott respectively trying to hold them back. "Yeah I called you snobbish Ms. I'm So Popular!" Althea shouted.  
  
"You're one to talk little miss Loudmouth!" Jean replied.  
  
"Ohhh that's it! Todd, let go of me, I'm going to knock Ms. Popularity there into next week." Althea replied.  
  
"Bring it on, I won't even use my powers. This fight is gonna be so easy!" Jean replied.  
  
"Says you!" Althea said, breaking free and knocking Jean to the ground.  
  
Bilby stood stunned, watching the spreading fight. "Meddling in people's lives? I'll show you meddling little miss royalty!" came another female shout.  
  
"Bring it on you..you whore!" came the reply, another female voice.  
  
"I'm insulted!" Tabitha shouted. Bilby knew who she was because the Misfit boys told him about her. The slender, dark haired girl he didn't know either. The winged baby dragon that had been with who Bilby knew had to be Kitty was flying in as well.  
  
Tabitha threw a couple energy bombs while Amara powered up. Lockheed decided to add his own two cents in and the next thing Bilby knew he was diving for the ground when a stray bolt of fire from Lockheed struck an aviation fuel container.  
  
"Less than five minutes on the base and their already fighting. A new record, Charles." Logan remarked.  
  
"Why me? Why me?" said a bald fellow in a wheel chair, presumably Charles.  
  
"ALVERS!" came the shout when Scott Summers fell into an open manhole that Lance had moved in his seismic fight against Colossus. Scott climbed out of the manhole covered with slime from the sewer.  
  
"Well if it isn't my psychotic half sister." Rogue said.  
  
"Bring it on you bad gothic fashion victim." Wanda replied.  
  
"The glove's coming off!" Rogue replied.  
  
"If you even get close enough I'll be amazed!" Wanda replied, powering up.  
  
"OWWW! Bad Dragon! Bad Dragon!" Lance shouted as Lockheed started chasing him around the runway.  
  
Cover Girl pulled up in a jeep with the babies and Roadblock to find Bilby staring open mouthed with his pistol drawn. "I see you've seen what happens whenever the X-men and the kids mix." Cover Girl said.  
  
"I've never seen THAT much animosity in all my life." Bilby replied.  
  
Roadblock, fortunately, planned for this emergency and taking a tiny brown teddy bear in a camouflage outfit from his pocket he walked to the edge of the fray and threw it in.  
  
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HOLDING SERGEANT SNUFFLES!???" Came the shout.  
  
Unfortunately, Sergeant Snuffles bounced out of the crowd and into Xavier's lap. "Oh no." Xavier moaned.  
  
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HOLDING SERGEANT SNUFFLES!?!?" Beach Head shouted, "I'M GONNA KILL YOU ALL! BANZAI!!!!!!!!"  
  
"LOGAN!" Xavier shouted as Beach Head came flying through the air and drop kicked him. Xavier rolled out of his wheel chair and across the hangar, lying face up with his tongue hanging out.  
  
Beach Head said to the Teddy Bear, "Did they hurt you?"  
  
Just then Logan and Jinx appeared from behind the Blackbird, Logan's face having more than a little lipstick on it, and he smelled of perfume. "Charles?" Logan asked, kneeling beside Xavier.  
  
"Holy Brotherhood Batman, the Misfits have abducted Sergeant Snuffles." Xavier said, with glazed eyes and in a funny voice, "Time for a nap."  
  
"Medic!" Bilby shouted. All Gamma troopers were trained in basic lifesaving techniques so Bilby ran up to Xavier and began to apply an ice pack and a compress to the place where Beach Head's boots left their mark.  
  
He saw Captain Fetterman coming, "Sir." Bilby said.  
  
"Corporal Bilby, are these the locals we've gotta work with to help fight the Heartless?" Fetterman asked.  
  
"Yes sir." Bilby replied.  
  
"It's gonna be a long, hard training schedule." Fetterman replies.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Uh Oh? What happens when the Gamma unit goes to train the Misfits and the X-men to fight the Heartless?  
  
Fetterman: They'd better learn to work together, they are the last hope for this dimension.  
  
Roadblock: Oh great. We're doomed. 


	10. Lunchtime Lancitty

Lunchtime Lancitty  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before. I don't own the Five Satins In the Still of the Night  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
After a lengthy time the two fighting groups were separated while the repair unit fixed the damage done to the Blackbird and the airfield and Kilo Two Zero combined with their intelligence element, David Falk and Jose Hedaya of mission India Three One, prepared their presentation for the X- men and the Misfits on the enemy they were facing. Bilby had pulled Lance aside to talk to him for a while during lunch.  
  
"Lance, I know this situation with Kitty is seriously pissing you off, but at least you have her around to talk to." Bilby replied.  
  
After living with Bilby for a few weeks, Lance knew a little bit about what Bilby was referring to, "Akima." He said knowingly.  
  
"Yeah." Bilby replied. They were sitting in the Enlisted Club and were waiting for their order.  
  
"What happened on the Titan mission and Akima?" Lance asked.  
  
Bilby's eyes grew steely and cold, all of the mirth and warmth in them fled before the terrible coldness, "Do not ever ask me that again."  
  
Lance stood up to leave in a huff. Bilby watched him leave and had a change of heart, "It was raining that night." Bilby replied.  
  
Lance came back to the table. "Throughout the course of six weeks, with our help, the Titan universe was able to fight back against the Heartless. The Resistance had done many effective hit and run missions that hurt the Heartless' control over many areas. We had helped them carry out this goal. Akima was one of the more successful leaders of the Resistance." Bilby continued.  
  
"What happened between you and Akima?" Lance asked.  
  
"I was teaching a couple members of her resistance cell the finer points of sniping when one of the other cell leaders approached me and said that since several other cell leaders had been killed by the Heartless during seeming lulls in action that we needed to train members of each cell as bodyguards. Akima, being the independent sort, the sort of girl who can take care of herself and is totally self sufficient just bore with this bodyguard crap to maintain the support of her cell. I took over that post after her bodyguard had been killed. Then I broke a couple rules." Bilby replied, with a sad smile.  
  
"What were those rules?" Lance asked. "First was the rule of the bodyguard, never get too close to the person you're protecting." Bilby replied, "The second is a rule that all units in our military operate under, never fall in love with someone from another dimension. Violation of that rule carries the penalty of execution or exile. Officers usually are shot, enlisted men are hanged. For officers, they are executed; enlisted guys like me are sometimes offered exile. Big emphasis on the sometimes."  
  
Lance was dumbstruck, his new friend was a grief stricken man for whom tragedy suddenly and violently and etched away part of his soul. He could see it in the way Bilby's eyes grew cold at the mention of the Titan mission, in the way he tried to reign in the violent agony that was simmering underneath whenever he told his story, and also in the way he'd wake up late at night and wander around the pit, searching for solace and surcease of what ailed him.  
  
The waitress came in with three orders, "One Swiss cheese and mushroom melt burger with fries and a coke." She said, indicating Bilby.  
  
"Two garden burgers, French fries, and milkshakes." Said the waitress.  
  
"I didn't order two garden burgers, ma'am, I only ordered one." Lance replied.  
  
"That's what it says on this order." The waitress replied.  
  
"I did." Bilby replied.  
  
"Why?" Lance said, "Work up a big appetite talking to Psyche Out?"  
  
"I'm not that hungry, mate, take a look to your left." Bilby replied.  
  
Lance turned and saw Kitty walking into the enlisted club, looking around for Lance. "I made the order before you arrived, and I talked Xavier into letting her spend some time with you. That's more than my romance with Akima was ever given." Bilby replied.  
  
Kitty walked up to the table, cradling Lockheed, who was sound asleep, in her arms. "Today's excitement kind of wore him out." Kitty said, "Hi Lance."  
  
"Hi Kitty." Lance grinned back, shyly.  
  
"I'll mind Lockheed. Now if you don't mind, it's time for a strategic withdrawal." Bilby replied.  
  
Lockheed stirred as Kitty moved him into Bilby's arms, "Mommy's gonna talk to Lance for a while, say hello to Mr. Bilby." Kitty said.  
  
Lockheed yawned a big toothy yawn and went back to sleep, cuddling into the crook of Bilby's arm, "I think he likes you." Kitty giggled.  
  
Bilby took a table two tables away and watched Lance and Kitty bond in their clumsy adolescent way. Despite himself, he grinned, it actually felt good to talk about what had been hurting him, instead of repressing it like he had been doing throughout the past year. Almost in the back of his mind he could hear Akima talking to him, saying, "You did a good thing for Lance today."  
  
"That's more of a chance than you and I ever had." Bilby breathed.  
  
He continued to eat his meal, feeling like the table for two was three times larger than it was before. "A table for one is always a lonely one." Bilby replied.  
  
"I don't know about that, sometimes a table for one can be fun." Cover Girl said, joining him, "This seat taken?"  
  
"If there's anyone in it, he's well camouflaged." Bilby replied.  
  
"Very funny." Cover Girl replied, sarcastically.  
  
"I take it this was your idea?" she asked, indicating Lance and Kitty who were talking and laughing over something or other.  
  
Catching Bilby's sad smile she said, "You really miss her don't you?"  
  
"Who?" Bilby asked, catching himself.  
  
"Don't give me that crap." Cover Girl replied, "Akima."  
  
Taking note of the retro fifties ambiance of the enlisted club he said, "She would have loved this place." Bilby replied, "She always had a thing for Earth history and nostalgia. Losing a planet will do that to you."  
  
Someone made a selection on the juke box and the lyrics to In the Still of the Night began to play. It brought bittersweet memories to Martin Bilby's heart.  
  
"In the still of the night. I held you. Held you tight. 'Cause I love. Love you so. Promise I'll never. Let you go. In the still of the night." The old, somewhat scratchy juke box sounded.  
  
Cover Girl put a comforting arm around Bilby, he was trying not to show it, but that's what he needed. She could tell even after a year losing Akima had really torn the heart right out of his chest. Every time he'd get that far away stare, the gleam of unshed tears shone in his eyes. She wondered how she'd cope with things if she found her soul mate, found out there were rules keeping them apart, and lost him in that same span of time.  
  
It seemed that Bilby losing his soul mate had been so agonizing that he was slowly giving way to nothing more than a desire for revenge. She could see that cold hearted desire for blood that crept into his eyes whenever they would go on missions against the Heartless. But she also saw the agony that assailed him at all hours of the day, an agony that until then had no release, for if he were to have revealed this to his unit he would have been facing court martial and jail time at a minimum because of the age of the offense or even execution since the Titan universe no longer existed and exile was not possible.  
  
She almost didn't catch his next statement, "I still feel her presence sometimes. Usually it happens when I go out on my lone patrols at night. I am one with my feelings and my soul when I patrol the wilderness in the night. It helps me ease the pain."  
  
The old jukebox continued playing as they talked, "I remember. That night in May. The stars were bright above. I'll hope and I'll pray. To keep your precious love. Well before the light. Hold me again. With all of your might. In the still of the night. In the still of the night."  
  
"It must hurt you whenever you see people in love." Cover Girl replied.  
  
"It does." Bilby replied, "Every time I hear a song like this, I remember her somehow, some way. Then I think of how I lost her to the Heartless and am filled with both rage and sadness."  
  
"So before the light. Hold me again. With all of your might. In the still of the night. In the still of the night. In the still of the night." The jukebox continued.  
  
Cover Girl watched as Bilby fingered the picture in his hands, she caught a glimpse of a slender, dark haired girl with a wry smile and a kind yet strong disposition. He put it away when he saw her staring. "Well I've gotta help Shipwreck with the babies." She said and left.  
  
As she left, she considered her love life. All her life, ever since she hit puberty she had boys and men fighting and vying for her attentions. She was equally sweet and personably to all of them, even to Shipwreck somewhat, but she never had found that special someone like Bilby had. She left, wondering what would she prefer, this constant men vying for her attentions or Bilby's situation, finding his soul mate and then losing her forever.  
  
Bilby watched Lance and Kitty talk, and grinned as Kitty's hand slid up to Lance's hand. She seemed to see that there was more to Lance than his rough childhood and time with Magneto. Of all the X-men Kitty seemed the most willing to accept the former Brotherhood members, even if all of them got on their nerves at some times. That meant there was some hope for the group.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"So who's your friend Lance?" Kitty asked.  
  
"He's one of those soldiers from another dimension I told you about." Lance said.  
  
"You mean those guys fighting those creepy shadow guys that try to break into the Institute?" Kitty replied.  
  
"The Heartless?" Lance replied.  
  
"He looked pretty sad when that song was playing." Kitty observed.  
  
"That's because he lost someone he really loved a year ago." Lance replied, "Hey, he at least pointed me in the right way. Even if things between you and I aren't going very well with Metal Muscles and company getting in the way, at least I still have you to talk to."  
  
"Lance, you've changed." Kitty replied, "You've like, gotten more mature."  
  
"Hanging around the Joes will do that to you." Lance replied, "Even if some of them are about as mature as some of the kids, especially Shipwreck."  
  
"Whatever it is, keep it up." Kitty replied.  
  
"I will." Lance replied, "You know, even with the mass device, I still miss you sometimes. Late at night especially after a hard day's training, when I can't really sleep but really want to, I think about you and I fall asleep. You've been the only person I know that's even cared to look past what's outside..."  
  
Bilby had been so preoccupied by first his talk with Cover Girl and then his observation of Kitty and Lance that he lost track of Lockheed. "Oh shit." He mumbled.  
  
Kitty, Lance, and Bilby as well as the entire enlisted club became aware of Lockheed's whereabouts, "YEOOWWWCCCCHHHH!!!"  
  
A distant shout sounded and all three of them converged on the source of the scream. It sounded like Beach Head screaming in pain. It was as if a dozen elephants or one hyperactive baby dragon was after him. Considering their distance from a zoo it was very likely the latter.  
  
Lance and Kitty got there first and witnessed the sight of Beach Head running for his life across the road with Lockheed spraying fire onto his butt. Lance started to laugh. "It looks like Sergeant Hardass has found himself a new playmate!"  
  
"I heard that Avalanche! Wait till I get my hands on you punks! OWWWWW!!!" Beach Head shouted as the dragon clung to his rear end with its teeth.  
  
Beach Head stormed past Lance and Kitty into the enlisted club. When he was out of earshot Kitty said, "Is it just me or do Beach Head and Scott sound like they've been molded from the same mold."  
  
"Believe me, he and Summers are probably long lost brothers or something." Lance replied.  
  
Kitty giggled somewhat as they walked back inside to watch Beach Head, with Lockheed securely clamped to his behind, walk up to Bilby, who casually took another sip of his soda. He was suppressing a grin with all of his ability. "BILBY!"  
  
"Yes Satan." Bilby replied with a wry grin and a somewhat lilting sarcastic tone, thinking, 'Akima would have thought this was hysterical.'  
  
"I heard that jackass. Does this belong to you?" Beach Head replied.  
  
"Actually, I believe that is a rare and endangered..." Bilby replied.  
  
"Cut the crap Bilby." Beach Head snapped.  
  
"And also he's the property of the young lady right there." Bilby replied, indicating Kitty, fast approaching.  
  
"You bully!" she shouted as Beach Head hit Lockheed and threw a heavy tray at his head.  
  
"Did that mean masked man hurt you pumpkin?" Kitty said to Lockheed as he scampered into her arms with his best, 'I'm innocent as a newborn dragon' look.  
  
"I hate my life." Beach Head groaned as Kitty and Lance walked out of the enlisted club holding hands with Lockheed in tow, curled up on Kitty's shoulders.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Up next, training with GI Joe. What happens when the X-men try to go through GI training again? The results won't be pretty.  
  
Fetterman: I hope they manage to last through day one.  
  
Bilby: They will sir. At least the Misfits. I don't know about Xavier's pretty boys, especially that Summers kid.  
  
X-men: I HEARD THAT.  
  
Fetterman: Good. I mean drat.  
  
Bilby: I wonder how they're gonna react once they find out they've got two weeks of training with us as well as GI Joe.  
  
Hears a chorus of groans from the X-men.  
  
Pietro: Oh C'mon guys, you'll love crawling around in the mud, running around with a 70 lb. rucksack, and all that other fun stuff we've been doing.  
  
Scott: Who's bright idea was this.  
  
Logan whistles as he walks off the stage.  
  
Logan (with an evil grin.): I'm not telling. 


	11. Briefings and Battles

Briefings and Battles  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before. Sorry I won't have computer access until May 24, this is my last update until then.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
After lunch the X-men and the Misfits were assembled, at Hawk's request on opposite sides of the room, in a classroom by Shipwreck's house. "Today we're going to learn about the basics of sniping." Bilby replied.  
  
"Is that where you shoot people from 500 yards away?" Jamie Madrox asked.  
  
"Further than that. In the US Army sniper manual sniping operations begin at ranges exceeding 600 meters. In World War II a German sniper named Matthias Hetzenauer claimed an off handed hit against a man standing in the open at 1100 meters." Bilby replied.  
  
"Cool." Multiple replied.  
  
"Teacher's pet." Berserker whispered.  
  
"Now, the basic components of a sniper rifle are the stock, the receiver, the scope, and the barrel." Bilby replied, laying out his own L1A1 SLR on a large table. The students all moved in closer for a look. The weapon's stock and components were spray painted desert tan for the terrain he had been operating in.  
  
"Now there's more to a telescopic sight than looking down range, lining up your crosshairs and pulling the trigger." Bilby replied. "The single reason most riflemen fail to hit their targets in the first shot is that they squeeze and do not apply a steady and constant force to the trigger. You should be surprised when this thing goes off. Now...."  
  
He could see Bobby Drake sleeping. "All of you drop and give me twenty, right now!" Bilby shouted.  
  
"But we didn't do anything." Scott Summers protested.  
  
"All of you on your faces. You're all a team so you will be rewarded and punished as such." Bilby replied. Several of the kids started cranking them out.  
  
"Stop." Bilby said, "None of those count. We'll do these when I count them out. I'll say down you say the number."  
  
"Down!" Bilby shouted.  
  
"One!" came the chorus. "Down!"  
  
"Two!"  
  
"Down!"  
  
"Three!"  
  
At around eight, Jean Grey's arms gave out. "Jean, we're gonna have to work on your upper body strength. That's mystifying considering you are a varsity athlete."  
  
Jean looked visibly upset and muttered something, "I don't need to be in good shape when I can telekinetically lift you across the room."  
  
"Oh really, I'd love to see what happens when the Heartless develop some countermeasure against your telepathy/telekinetics. Do you honestly think I fear you?" Bilby replied, "I've faced down a foe more ruthless than the Sentinels of your dimension, an evil manipulative intelligence that rivals both COBRA and Magneto in terms of evil. They do not feel pity, remorse, or fear, and they will not stop until the very heart of your dimension is consumed and all of you will cease to exist because such a great cataclysm will implode your universe."  
  
Bilby spoke with such conviction and hatred for the Heartless that it kept some of the more smart mouth type students quiet. Scott noticed that the Misfits weren't even fazed by the twenty pushups that Bilby made them do where all of the Institute kids were sweating, and feeling the burn in their arms.  
  
"That's nothing compared to what happens whenever Beach Head, Sergeant Slaughter or Roadblock does if he catches us sleeping in class." Lance said.  
  
Bilby knew there was at least some hope for this dimension. At least the Misfits didn't have their noses in the air, unlike the X-men who seemed to consider things like working with their former enemies beneath them. There were a few who had potential, one was Kitty Pryde, her friendship with Lance showed how open minded she was. By contrast Jean Gray and Scott Summers were classic power trips by his way of thinking, the leaders with puffed up egos and in the case of Jean, she was as bad as those popular crowd that gave the former Brotherhood members a hard time at Bayville High School.  
  
He ordered them to their feet by saying, "Recover."  
  
They all stood up and sat back down. "Hopefully that keeps you awake." Bilby replied, arms folded across his chest.  
  
The lesson went smoothly until Bobby Drake decided to go egg Lance on about Kitty while Peter made his move. The classroom started to shake. Calmly Bilby put his laser pointer into his pocket and said, "Save your energy for the obstacle course, and I mean it." Bilby replied, "I know from experience Sergeant Rumpler isn't taking it easy on any of you and you know Sergeant Slaughter is especially merciless."  
  
Bilby's words proved to be entirely prophetic as he walked out with the class to the obstacle course. "Bilby, Cover Girl, show them how to go through the course." Sergeant Slaughter ordered, "The only stipulation, boys and girls, is use none of your fancy mutant powers to get through this."  
  
"Bilby, you're up." Sergeant Slaughter said.  
  
Bilby sprang forward, running through the tires and vaulting several logs that were four feet off the ground. He ran up to a wall with a rope hanging from it and scrambled up the rope and jumped down. He swung across from one parallel beam to another, missing the second beam and falling down. It didn't seem to faze him and he just kept on running and when he hit the finish line after going through more tires, past several simulated mines, and over more walls until he finally finished, crawling under the barbed wire.  
  
"Bilby. Ten minutes and fifteen seconds." Sergeant Slaughter said, "Not bad soldier."  
  
"Cover Girl, you're up."  
  
Cover Girl ran through the obstacle course with a gymnast's deceptive grace and skill. She managed to land smoothly on the rope swing, and didn't have as many falls and mild trips that Bilby had gone through. Where Bilby relied primarily on his inherent toughness to get through the course, Cover Girl used a combination of skill and grace.  
  
"Cover Girl. Nine minutes and thirty seconds. Your best time yet." Sergeant Slaughter said.  
  
One of the X-men and one of the Misfits would go through the course at a time. The minimum passing time for a recruit was twelve minutes with ten minutes and thirty seconds being the average time for most Joes. First up were Jean Gray and Althea Delgato.  
  
Althea went through the course with twice as much agility as either Bilby or Cover Girl had shown. She easily scaled the wall, finding her footing easily and climbing swiftly. Jean was still struggling past the logs and made it to the wall. Sergeant Slaughter watched as Jean tried yet another futile attempt to scale the wall, her face flush with frustration. "I can tell you right now you're not gonna make it over that wall." Sergeant Slaughter said.  
  
"I'll make it over that wall!" Jean shouted. Again she failed; she didn't have the upper body strength to get over the wall. Jean bit her upper lip, tears streaming from her face.  
  
"Delgato, Nine minutes and fifteen seconds." Sergeant Rumpler said.  
  
"That is exactly what will beat you in combat, Miss Gray, that defeatist attitude you've got going there. You've been on top of everything all your life, but you're now at the very bottom and you can't take it. That will beat you quicker than anything COBRA's got."  
  
Meanwhile Lance and Scott were going through, constantly jockeying each other. When Scott slipped when trying to scale the wall because it shook he immediately blamed Lance even though he wasn't responsible for that shake.  
  
"Alvers, there's no way you can do that without using your powers!" Scott said, blasting a hole in the wall.  
  
"Summers, if that's how you wanna play...." Lance said, shaking several holes through the obstacle course and hitting Scott with a mini tidal wave of earth while Scott blasted him. The two boys began to instantly fight.  
  
"Vampire!"  
  
"Witch!"  
  
"Garlic breath!"  
  
Came the shouts of Wanda and Rogue, who were immersed in their own verbal argument. An energy bomb appeared out of nowhere and blew several tires airborne. Amara started to throw fire blasts around that consumed the rope climb and rope swing.  
  
Several obstacles were either on fire or blown up before the fight ended and Sergeant Slaughter piled on the punishment.  
  
Misfit and X-man alike were face down on the ground doing forty arm straining pushups. Jean Gray watched Althea do them with ease while she was struggling just to do ten. Every one of the Misfits, even Toad, was now in better physical condition that she was in and she couldn't stand it. Here she was, former captain of the Bayville High School Girl's Soccer team, MVP, and she was being bested by the former Brotherhood.  
  
"If you're wondering why the Misfits have been beating you at every evolution it's because they've been training to do this. Their training is hard and practical. You X-men should be in better shape, you've got the money to pay for a lot of equipment and training that we can only dream of." Sergeant Rumpler replied, "The Joes may not have as much money as you, but they know how to make the best of things, and that's what we're teaching you."  
  
"We're here to help you fight against the Heartless, but you have to do your part of the bargain. We need you to work harder than you have ever done in your lives. It is the only chance you stand against them. They're not gonna give you a second chance, they'll shoot you dead where you lie." Bilby added.  
  
'Just like they did to Akima.' Bilby thought, 'And hundreds of other worlds.'  
  
Exhausted, the X-men swarmed Professor Xavier, "How much more of this?"  
  
"Two weeks." Xavier replied.  
  
"Two weeks! It's only been one day with these maniacs and we're getting our butts kicked!" Jean complained.  
  
"Jean, Scott, it's only for two weeks...." Professor Xavier began.  
  
To this Jean replied, "I keep getting humiliated out there, so are the rest of us! Why are we even in need of them to fight the Heartless? Our defenses at the Institute drove off their last attacks."  
  
"The Heartless don't just threaten the Institute, Jean, they threaten the entire world." Xavier replied, "Do you think I wanted to be in close proximity to Shipwreck and his crazy family or Hawk and his insane soldiers for that long?"  
  
"YES!" Jean and Scott shouted. Obviously the golden boy and golden girl were upset that they weren't getting the royal treatment they had been accustomed to.  
  
"Charles." Logan said, as the pair stormed out of the Blackbird, "It's gonna be a long, hard two weeks."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
I'm up for some more suggestions at this point. I'm gonna use my week off to think up more ideas. 


	12. More Mayhem

More Mayhem  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before. Keep on R&R but also I'd like to know how well I wrote the angst scenes in this story...  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"OK dudes." Stoney began, "This is our lesson on espionage, we're learning how to blend into crowds."  
  
"What would you know about blending into a crowd? Unless it was a crowd at the sixties rejects reunion." Quinn began.  
  
X-men and Misfits alike laughed at the comparison. Stoney was wearing civilian clothes with his long curly brown hair held out of his face by a blue bandanna, a tie dyed t-shirt, denim vest, a peace symbol around his neck, and purple bell bottoms.  
  
"For once Stoney I agree with them." Bilby laughed.  
  
"You just gotta learn to go with the flow little one." Stoney replied to Quinn.  
  
"Where did you get him?" Kitty asked Lance.  
  
"I don't know, he is from earth, I think." Lance replied.  
  
"What about you, Mr. Bilby?" Kitty asked.  
  
"I'm from Australia. Link's from Estonia," Bilby said, indicating Link dozing in the corner, "And Stoney, we're still not exactly sure where he's from."  
  
Just as Bilby spoke the words to Play that Funky Music White Boy sounded from a nearby boom box. Stoney started dancing 70s style through the aisles while singing the lyrics out loud.  
  
"Right." Stoney said, as the song ended, "Now for the next part of our lesson, selecting your disguise."  
  
Stoney indicated a pile of clothes on the table, "Stoney, this is basically your wardrobe back at the Squadron, there is no way in hell we're gonna blend in anywhere unless its at some weird retro sixties festival." Bilby replied.  
  
"Hey the sixties are coming back dude." Stoney replied.  
  
"Whatever Stoney, just don't try clubbing at Universal City Walk dressed like that." Bilby replied, "Remember last year."  
  
"Bilby, I prefer you not discuss that." Stoney replied.  
  
"Yeah, I'm talking about the time you hit on that biker chick and her boyfriend nearly threw you and that hippie themed moped of yours into the retention pond." Bilby replied.  
  
"That's it dude, that's a low blow." Stoney replied, "You still never told me about your mystery chick, Akima."  
  
Bilby grew cold and said, "Stoney, I'm warning you mate...."  
  
"Oh c'mon, you're not the first guy to fall for some chick on a counterinsurgency op." Stoney replied.  
  
"Stoney I'm warning your hippie ass...." Bilby warned.  
  
"What's wrong with admitting it, huh? As long as you didn't sleep with her it's alright." Stoney said.  
  
"I'm warning you that shirt's gonna be tie dyed blood red in a few minutes mate." Bilby replied.  
  
Misfits and X-men alike were watching the two soldiers hurl insults at each other as the argument slowly started to heat up.  
  
"What are we supposed to be learning from this?" Jean asked.  
  
"Good call little miss suck up to the teachers." Althea replied, "Um, Mr. McCoy, the kids aren't doing their homework."  
  
Althea's impression of Jean was almost flawless, so flawless that Jean turned beet red and the look on her face was typical impression of the snooty prom queen who's pride has been severely insulted. Jean was practically speechless..."  
  
Jean replied, "Why you...you six gilled freak."  
  
"Oh is that the best you can come up with. At least I'm a freak and not some stuck up little prom queen, wind up doll, gotta please the teacher lap dog."  
  
Stoney and Bilby were too busy arguing to notice the impending catfight. They were busy throwing insults at each other with Scott and Todd trying to prevent Jean and Althea from killing each other.  
  
"Hippie!" Bilby shouted.  
  
"Section Eight!" Stoney replied.  
  
"Colorblind!" Bilby shot back.  
  
"Whack Job!" Stoney replied.  
  
Just then Stoney shoved Bilby and realized his own mistake after doing so. Bilby showed him how he had been battalion champion when he was in the 25th Infantry Division with a solid hook to the jaw. Stoney fell like a pole axed mule but not without using his heavier body weight to drag Bilby into the ground with him. They started gouging and wailing on each other.  
  
"Gunfreak!" Stoney replied.  
  
"Bad fashion victim!" Bilby replied.  
  
Meanwhile Jean and Althea had torn free of Scott and Todd and started to fight. It wasn't much of a fight. Jean grabbed Althea by the front of the shirt and instantly realized that fighting up close with a trained ninja wasn't the smartest thing in the world. Althea grabbed the weak point of Jean's grip, between her thumb and index finger and twisted. Jean let go just as Althea kneed her in the stomach and struck her in the jaw with the heel of her palm. Instantly stunned Jean fell on her buttocks to the ground.  
  
"ALL OF YOU KNOCK IT OFF!" shouted a very tough looking soldier with a drill sergeant's cover, "Jean and Althea, report to the Blind Master for extra training. The rest of you are going through that obstacle course. Bilby, you and Stoney are gonna be carrying 70 lbs of gear on you going through it. When I count to ten you all better be where I told you to be. 1.....2....10! You're done, on your faces and give me fifty."  
  
"Sergeant Slaughter." Lance whispered to Kitty as they were doing pushups.  
  
"Stop talking to my girlfriend Alvers." Pitor replied.  
  
"Shut your trap Tin Man!" Lance replied.  
  
"OK Rock Boy, you asked for it...." Pitor replied.  
  
"And you both are gonna get it." Sergeant Slaughter said, "Grab fifty pounds of gear and join Bilby and Stoney on the obstacle course."  
  
A few minutes later: "It's official, once the Heartless are gone I'm gonna kill Sergeant Slaughter." Stoney said.  
  
"I'll help you mate." Bilby replied.  
  
"We'd need an RPG to even faze that clown." Stoney replied, "Ow my aching arms...."  
  
"Oh quit complaining." Bilby replied, both he and Stoney, still wearing seventy pounds of gear a piece were hanging from a pull up bar and were gripping the bar with their palms away from them. They were both in the up position.  
  
"At least we agree on something, we both wanna kill Sergeant Slaughter for this one." Stoney replied, "Sorry about the insults I threw at you."  
  
"No worries mate. We should've saved them for Slaughter." Bilby replied.  
  
"Fine by me." Stoney replied.  
  
Meanwhile Lance and Pitor were hanging from an adjacent pull up bar. "This is your fault Earthquake Boy."  
  
"Awww, what's the matter, Mr. Metal Muscles getting tired." Lance replied.  
  
"I bet I can stay up longer than you can." Pitor replied.  
  
"Bring it on you Colossal Moron!" Lance quipped.  
  
"Uh guys," said Pietro, zipping by, "Remember Sarge said no powers."  
  
"Oh yeah, that's right. There's no way you could do that without using your powers." Lance replied.  
  
"Shut up Alvers!" Pitor replied.  
  
"You first Tin Grin!" Lance replied.  
  
"That's it!" Colossus replied and turned into a metal muscled statue.  
  
"Real scary metal mouth, try this." Lance replied and started to make a tremor that made the bar shake uncontrollably. Pitor fell off and immediately grabbed Lance's ankles. Lance fell off the bar, his feet kicking Pitor in the face.  
  
"Bilby, Stoney, you're dismissed. Avalanche, you and Colossus are going through something else." Sergeant Slaughter replied, "This time let's make it more fun."  
  
Ten minutes later Lance dragged himself back into the house. "If I ever see another mountain as long as I live...."  
  
"Let me guess." Toad said as he hopped by, "Mountain climbing."  
  
"I still don't see how you beat Sergeant Slaughter climbing up that mountain." Lance replied.  
  
"I didn't carry as much stuff, I was hyped up on BA's coffee, and I didn't have to carry Metal Muscles half way up the hill." Toad replied.  
  
"You're no lightweight yourself Alvers." Pitor replied. Both of them were too tired to argue any further about anything.  
  
"Another day in paradise." Bilby quipped before napping on the couch.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Just some pointless fluff I figured I'd throw into the mixture just for the hell of doing it. I'll get back around to the plot eventually. All readers are invited to vote for whom they'd want to wield the Keyblade when I insert it into the storyline. 


	13. The Lazarus Plot

The Lazarus Plot  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before... RogueFanKC Avalanche and Colossus ran the obstacle course in ten minutes, the mountain was another matter. I just goofed while typing it last night.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Maleficent's portal opened into Cobra Commander's office, "Report."  
  
"We're working infiltrating the Misfits and GI Joe...." Cobra Commander replied.  
  
"What do you mean working on it? Thanks to not one but two Gamma missions, our takeover of this dimension is being delayed." Maleficent replied, "Now I want progress, unless you want to be singing Material Girl in front of hundreds of troops."  
  
Cobra Commander shuddered and broke into a clammy sweat under his mask. He didn't want a repeat of the pink tutu incident. He activated a monitor behind his desk and the COBRA insignia behind it winked out and showed an image of a bald mustachioed man with a monocle and a cape. "Yes Cobra Commander." Mindbender replied.  
  
"Update Maleficent on the progress of the Lazarus Project." Cobra Commander replied.  
  
"The Lazarus Project?" Maleficent asked.  
  
"We've been working on a surefire way to infiltrate the combined GI Joe/Misfits team through their Gamma unit advisors." Mindbender replied.  
  
He stepped back to reveal a cell, "May I present to you our experiment."  
  
In the prison cell a young woman curled into a ball, fresh from her last interrogation. She was dark haired, slender, and fairly attractive. Not to mention feisty as hell, she had tried to escape several times, but the interrogators said they were fairly close to breaking her of that spirit.  
  
"A rebel leader that my troops thought killed?" Maleficent replied, "Why did you keep her alive if she indeed was not dead?"  
  
"She doesn't know that I implanted a few post hypnotic commands into her mind...." Mindbender replied.  
  
"Very well, but if she even appears to show any sign of rebellion, eliminate her." Maleficent replied, and looking at another monitor she noticed two helicopters and a force moving towards Mindbender's location.  
  
"They're under attack. Is this your idea of security?" Maleficent snarled.  
  
"That was our intention for our prisoner to fall into GI Joe's hands. So for this rescue operation we are one step ahead of them at all times." Cobra Commander replied.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Mindbender felt the pain again. It had been getting steadily worse as time wore on and it started when these strange Heartless creatures were appearing in their dimension. It was as if his heart was constricting. He doubled over from the agony and noticed in horror that his right hand had turned into a black claw.  
  
He could hear sounds of fighting just outside the door. The same transformation was happening to his lab technicians, many of them were sporting glowing eyes and antennae or clawed hands like the Heartless. He could feel yet another spasm of pain as his heart tried to resist the fact that it was collapsing inward. It also felt like a hard bony cast was growing around the space his heart used to occupy.  
  
He could hear doors being kicked in and saw a sphere of a hand grenade thrown inside the building. The sphere exploded, killing two half mutated lab technicians. He could see a pair of soldiers, both carrying telescopic rifles.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Sergeant Hedaya had gone in first, throwing a fragmentation grenade into the room. He raised his suppressed, telescopic CAR-15 and kicked the door in. Bilby ran in behind him with his SLR up and ready.  
  
"Clear!" Hedaya shouted.  
  
Bilby was still checking the prison cells. Most of them were either empty or contained several prisoners who were cowering in their cells, covered with cuts and bruises from multiple beatings. One contained a young man covered with third and second degree burns. The Heartless had thrown him inside here like a bag full of garbage after whatever had caused those burns occurred.  
  
A body of a COBRA soldier, half mutated, twitched and Bilby shot it through the head. "Clear!" Bilby shouted, "Lifeline, get over here!"  
  
Lifeline came running in with Roadblock, Duke, Toad and Xi covering him. Of the six prisoners, two were beyond help, the burned young man and an older woman who was suffering from severe head trauma. Three of the less seriously injured prisoners were led away as the team continued searching the room.  
  
Bilby kicked down another door and entered the room, sweeping it with his rifle. He could see the monocle wearing man, half mutated into a Heartless lying on the floor. He shouldered his rifle when Lifeline knocked it away. "He's becoming a Heartless, there's no way to save him. Not that I'd want to." Bilby replied. "AAAGGGHHH!" Mindbender screamed in agony as two antennae poked through his head, "There are my notes on the transformation in that computer....I may have devised a way to save myself...."  
  
"I'll stabilize him, go check on that prisoner." Lifeline said.  
  
Bilby dutifully ran to the prisoner, a slim figured young woman with dark hair. Her eyes were obscured by a blindfold and her hands were secured behind her by a pair of handcuffs. He used the bolt cutters on his belt kit to remove her manacles and pulled off the blindfold. When he did so Martin Bilby looked as if he had see a ghost. He was seeing the face of a woman that he had not seen in over a year. It was the face of a woman whom by all accounts and for all intents and purposes was dead.  
  
"Akima?" Bilby said, stunned but still moving. He draped one of her arms over his shoulder and wrapped an arm around her waist in order to help her limp along.  
  
Bilby walked up to Mindbender and kicked him in the face, "You lousy bastard. I should kill you for what you've done to her, but the pain you're enduring is far better than anything I could even begin to do."  
  
Mindbender was about to reply something when he felt his foot turning black and his heart spasmodically collapsing again. "AARRAAGGGHHH!!!!"  
  
Lifeline began to use a tranquilizer to sedate Mindbender and slow his metabolism enough so that the transformation into a Heartless would be delayed somewhat. He carried Mindbender across his shoulders toward the waiting helicopter.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
As the helicopter flew off over the horizon Bilby took Akima's hand in his own, "How did you get here?" Bilby asked.  
  
"I've been imprisoned aboard a Prison Satellite after being moved from Stinson Prison." Akima said, referring to a mission where her fighter had been shot down and she was captured by the Heartless and incarcerated in Stinson Prison, named for a collaborator whom the Gamma unit later killed.  
  
"That's impossible. I rescued you and all the other prisoners there in Operation Breakout." Bilby replied.  
  
"No you didn't." Akima said, "One night they took me out of my cell and shoved an exact clone of me into the cell. Don't ask me how they did it, I only know that she looked like me, talked like me, and walked like me."  
  
Akima was starting to get emotional about this, "Shh. Calm down, it's alright. I believe you." Bilby replied. Akima gave his hand a strong squeeze before she passed out.  
  
Bilby desperately wanted to believe that the woman he had just rescued was Akima. He knew he would take exile or even execution just to hold her in his arms once again. The helicopter was teleported back to the Pit and the patients rushed into the Infirmary.  
  
"She'll be fine Bilby." Lifeline said, "She just needs some rest."  
  
Bilby sat in the Infirmary waiting room and after ten minutes realized he couldn't just sit around doing nothing. He headed off to Shipwreck's house, but the entire time he couldn't stop thinking about Akima. He should have been deliriously happy but he didn't want to be, because if this wasn't Akima he didn't want the hurtful letdown that would result.  
  
"Something on your mind?" his fellow sniper asked.  
  
Bilby figured he wouldn't get by with saying nothing so he came clean, "Ever have one of those moments where you thought that you'd lost something forever only to have it resurface at the darndest time."  
  
"Yeah, my car keys." Hedaya replied.  
  
"Ha ha." Bilby replied.  
  
"Cheer up pal. You're not the first guy to have fallen in love with some gal on an op." Hedaya replied.  
  
"Does a man have any secrets in this Squadron?" Bilby asked.  
  
"I'm afraid not." Hedaya replied, "It's a known fact that you fell for someone on the Titan Mission, you saw her die and it really tore you apart."  
  
"Wanker." Bilby replied.  
  
"What does your heart say?" Hedaya replied as he reassembled his rifle. For all his lethal ability Hedaya was a staunchly romantic individual.  
  
"My heart really and truly wants to believe I've found her again." Bilby replied, "But my mind knows I saw her die."  
  
"Maybe she told the truth, maybe she didn't. What I'm saying is trust her like you did before. That's the whole foundation of love, trust." Hedaya replied, then sighed, "What makes you think she's a mole?"  
  
"She's exactly like the Akima I remember, only missing the two weeks before she was supposedly killed in her memory." Bilby replied, "I want to believe it's her, but I don't want to be let down by finding out that it isn't."  
  
"Trust your heart my friend. The difference between us and the Heartless is our ability to love and trust, stemming from the very hearts they've lost. Now if you'll excuse me, my old girl needs a little time." Hedaya said, walking off to the modified satellite phone to call his wife, leaving Bilby alone with his thoughts.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
So is this mysterious survivor really who she claims to be? Will Lifeline be able to save Mindbender? And if so, what secrets will his notes and journal reveal to GI Joe? The answer in the next chapter of Kilo Two Zero. 


	14. When Akima Awakened

When Akima Awakened  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Akima felt a slight draft of air that smelled sterile, like that of a hospital. She slowly opened her eyes, feeling that same disorientation that one usually feels when awakening in an unfamiliar place. She pulled the blanket from her hospital bed over her slim frame, clothed in a hospital gown.  
  
"Feeling better." A blonde nurse asked.  
  
"I'm a little disoriented but I'm alright. Where am I?" Akima asked.  
  
"You're in the infirmary." The blonde replied.  
  
"I can see that." Akima replied, sensing that the people at the hospital weren't really going to hurt her, "But where is the Infirmary."  
  
"You're on an army base." The blonde replied, "I work here as a nurse, my husband is one of the medics."  
  
"Are you a Gamma unit?" Akima asked.  
  
"No, but we work with them. I take it you've run into them." The nurse replied.  
  
"Yeah. They came and fought to help us when the Heartless attacked my world." Akima replied.  
  
"Well they've just come into ours too and the Gamma unit sent a team to help us out." The nurse replied, "By the way, I'm Bree."  
  
"Akima."  
  
"Wait a minute, one of the soldiers in that unit seems to be rather fond of you." Bree replied. At the sound of footsteps Bree replied, "Speak of the devil."  
  
"He's been waiting by your bedside for nearly six days now." Bree replied.  
  
"Was I in a coma or something?" Akima asked.  
  
"No. Your mind just needed a little time out while your body recovered, that is why you don't remember anything." Bree replied, "There's some clothes for you in the next room, now if you'll excuse me, I've got to hold off the blitzkrieg while you get dressed."  
  
"I can go?" Akima asked.  
  
"Yes, you're released from the hospital but we need you back for the occasional checkup or two." Bree replied.  
  
Akima walked through the door into the small bathroom where she found an almost exact duplicate of her clothing folded neatly on the side of the sink. She dressed herself just as she heard Bree saying, "Hold your horses will you, she's alright."  
  
She threw her spacers cargo vest on after the rest of her clothes and opened the door. She could see Bilby just then. His smile beaming and evidence of hope in his eyes stood in stark contrast to a face that had been devoid of such feelings for over a year. He seemed a good deal more careworn from grief but other than that he looked almost the same way she remembered him.  
  
Bilby's heart nearly skipped a beat when he saw her. Everything about her seemed to be the same as it had been before she had died. The way she wore her hair, her wry smile, her graceful stride, they were all as he remembered in his many flashbacks and dreams since the Titan mission. It felt as if a 200-pound weight had been discarded from his shoulders.  
  
"I'll leave you lovebirds a little moment's privacy." Bree replied.  
  
Both of them stood speechless for a while, awkwardly uncertain what to do next. Bilby was the first to speak, "How about I take you for a walk around the Pit if you're up for it."  
  
"I'm up for it." Akima replied.  
  
They walked through the garden located behind the Infirmary. Akima trailed her hand through a nearby hedge, she breathed in deeply and said, "It's so beautiful back here. All my life when I lived on the drifter colony I dreamt of big open fields, meadows where nature was allowed to roam free, breathing unrecycled air."  
  
"Then move to a new planet." Bilby joked, "Because this air's been recycled a million times."  
  
Akima playfully punched him on the arm, "You are so not funny Martin."  
  
"You do need to recycle the air after the Blob's eaten Mexican cuisine which should be about..." Bilby said, peering at his watch.  
  
"Now." He commented as several Joes, Misfits, and X-men came stampeding out of the cafeteria with towels, napkins and hands across their faces.  
  
Akima said, "The Blob?"  
  
"You'll meet him later." Bilby said, rolling his eyes, "Along with the other kids on this base. Put it this way, this is not your average Army base..."  
  
"The horror! The horror!" said Footloose, sprawled out on the pavement in front of the cafeteria, "BA should know better than to give Mexican food to the Blob, especially if they're beef and bean burritos."  
  
"Yeah, not even my respirator can cope with the results." Barbecue coughed.  
  
"Fresh air! Fresh air! My kingdom for fresh air!!!!" Airtight moaned as he lay twitching against the wall.  
  
"OK, maybe the cafeteria isn't the best place to visit hon." Bilby said, taking Akima's left arm in an escort position and steering her in the opposite direction of the cafeteria.  
  
"BA sounds like Guen. You know our wacky inventor on the Valkyrie?" Akima replied.  
  
"Of course I remember. Of course I'm the one who said that in the Army being a cook and a chemical warfare specialist aren't all that dissimilar." Bilby replied.  
  
"I heard that Aussie! My Bloomin' Onion recipe was great!" BA shouted.  
  
"It would have been if you hadn't put Nickelodeon Slime in the mixture!" Bilby shouted back.  
  
"You liked my Outback Soufflé last night!" BA replied.  
  
"That was before it exploded all over the kitchen. Why you decided to put dynamite in a recipe I'll never figure out." Bilby replied.  
  
"Dynamite?" Akima asked.  
  
"Don't ask." Bilby replied.  
  
"Is it my imagination or is BA...." Akima replied.  
  
"...missing a few marbles." Said a female voice from behind them.  
  
"Hey, Cover Girl, this is Akima. Akima, this is Cover Girl." Bilby said, shyly.  
  
"He talks about you almost all the time. I never thought I'd actually meet you." Cover Girl replied.  
  
Akima looked up, the woman was nearly six feet tall, taller than her 5'8" and Bilby's 5'9" respectively, and said, "Being reported dead will do that to you."  
  
"How did you...?" Cover Girl asked.  
  
"Survive. It's a long story." Akima replied.  
  
"Well where were you two going?" Cover Girl asked.  
  
"Anywhere far away from the kitchen. If you're headed there go get a gas mask, we had a Code Blue." Bilby replied.  
  
"Oh God." Cover Girl replied, "Not again. You'd think that after the Chili Catastrophe, as Pietro called it, BA would learn it's never wise to give the Blob any sort of Mexican cuisine."  
  
"Chili Catastrophe?" Akima asked, then turned to Bilby and asked, "What kind of army base is this?"  
  
"Not your average one, that's for sure." Cover Girl replied, then sighed, "Well I've gotta see if Lifeline can't give the Blob some extra strength gas relief medicine, again."  
  
As Cover Girl walked off Bilby explained, "You meet all sorts of interesting characters here on this base."  
  
"You take that back!"  
  
"Make me!"  
  
"With pleasure!"  
  
Bilby rolled his eyes again, "I'd go far away whenever I hear those two going at it."  
  
"Why?" Akima asked.  
  
"Oh that's easy, because something explodes, catches fire, or is destroyed whenever they get in any sort of debate." Bilby replied.  
  
"Such as?" Akima asked, pulling Bilby along towards the sound.  
  
"You want to watch? Don't say I didn't warn you." Bilby replied.  
  
They came into a room in the motor pool where two men, one wearing a black coverall, the other wearing camouflage were shouting at each other. Bilby recognized them as Leatherneck and Wetsuit.  
  
"So what are Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee fighting about?" Akima asked.  
  
"It could be ANYTHING! But whatever it's about, disaster is sure to follow. Like the time they blew up a tank, demolished the auditorium....." Bilby replied.  
  
"Hah! Only a Marine would think that Jet Li is a better martial artist than Jackie Chan!" Wetsuit replied.  
  
"Jet Li IS the better martial artist!" Leatherneck protested.  
  
"Over my dead body! That was only because of computer generated effects that Jet Li did all that crap in that movie the One!" Wetsuit replied.  
  
"Listen Muffin Head, don't even start that again!" Leatherneck replied.  
  
"Who's a Muffin Head?" Wetsuit replied.  
  
They tore into each other with kicks, punches, and gouging. They rolled around on the floor as they fought.  
  
"Strudel Brain!"  
  
"Oatmeal Face!"  
  
"Blueberry Butt!"  
  
Akima walked up to the pair and said, "Actually I thought that you're both wrong. Bruce Lee was the best martial artist of all time!"  
  
"Blasphemer!" they shouted as one and advanced on Akima.  
  
Bilby jumped into the fray, "Don't you hurt my girlfriend!"  
  
Bilby successfully contained Wetsuit but Leatherneck ran towards Akima who calmly sidestepped his charge and kicked out with her left leg and sent a devastating knee kick just above Leatherneck's naughty bits that sent him on his rear end, stunned. Just then Bilby landed a solid right hook on Wetsuit's jaw. Bilby took Akima's arm again as they walked back outside.  
  
"Marshmallow Muscles!"  
  
"Jigglypuff!"  
  
"That's it! You called ME a JIGGLYPUFF! YOU'RE DEAD!"  
  
Bilby and Akima jumped behind a rock just as a loud bang sounded from the motor pool. "Are they always like this?" Akima asked.  
  
"Yeah, even when they're sleeping they still debate with each other in their dreams. I'll never forget the sight of Leatherneck sleepwalking in his underwear muttering about whether Batman was the better superhero than Superman." Bilby replied.  
  
"Oh my God this base is an insane asylum." Akima replied.  
  
"You're telling me." Bilby replied, "And now we're headed for the epicenter of this insanity. Abandon all hope all ye who enter."  
  
"Very funny Dante Alighieri." Akima replied, "They can't be any worse than anyone we've seen so far..."  
  
"Give me back my Sergeant Snuffles!!!!" Beach Head shouted. He was crashing into the door and sending splinters of wood flying everywhere.  
  
"Thou shalt not regain thy beloved Sergeant Snuffles thou foul smelling brute!" Pietro, wearing a medieval getup, complete with a plastic Viking helmet and a plastic shield, shouted from an upstairs bedroom. He was holding a cup of coffee in the other hand.  
  
"Taketh a bath your stench be offensive!" Toad shouted, wearing a gold crown and throwing several water balloons down.  
  
"I take that back." Akima replied as they watched the mayhem unfold from a safe distance away.  
  
"You should see what happens when the X-men come here in about an hour or so." Bilby replied, "Then things really descend into madness..."  
  
"Maybe I should have stayed in that prison cell." Akima replied, "At least the Heartless weren't completely off balance."  
  
"You should have seen the pink tutu incident. The kids have a tape of it somewhere." Bilby replied.  
  
"You know, I wonder how you can stay sane among these people..." Akima replied.  
  
Bilby turned her towards him and leaned forward, "Not exactly the most romantic setting, but it's as good a time as any."  
  
Akima smiled as Bilby tilted his head so that their noses wouldn't bump. Their embrace was interrupted as it began to get started...  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Up next, what happens when Akima finally meets the Misfits and the X-men? Will Beach Head regain Sergeant Snuffles? And will the kids get off their coffee hype? Three guesses who interrupted the lovers' intimate moment.... 


	15. Akima, meet the Misfits

"Akima, meet the Misfits."  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Hey, isn't public display of affection something you guys told us we shouldn't do." Jean Grey said.  
  
Bilby, annoyed, broke away from the embrace, "And here are the rare and endangered species of Uptightus Shadesus and Promqueenius Snotticus."  
  
"You've been hanging around Avalanche too long haven't you?" Jean said, offended by the nicknames.  
  
"If the shoe fits....Besides, that's nowhere near as bad as what I head you two did on the dunes of some tropical island before the Misfits were formed." Bilby replied.  
  
"How did you?" Jean replied, turning beet red.  
  
"Parrots, especially drunk, are excellent intelligence sources." Bilby replied cryptically.  
  
"Who are they?" Akima asked.  
  
"They're two of the members of the X-men I told you about." Bilby replied, "They and the Misfits, formerly the Brotherhood, fight almost constantly."  
  
"About what?" Akima asked.  
  
"Like with Leatherneck and Wetsuit, anything." Bilby replied, "And everything."  
  
"Those stupid Misfits start everything." Scott grumbled.  
  
"Excuse me mate, but I think you're group causes just as much trouble with your condescending, nose in the air attitude that you've got going." Bilby replied, "Now if you'll excuse us."  
  
As soon as the pair was out of hearing range Bilby added, "I know I tend to side with the Misfits in these arguments. Even if we Gamma operators are supposed to be professional and not take sides I still tend to think the Misfits, despite their shady backgrounds, are the diamonds in the rough. When the Keyblade returns, I know it's liable to select one of the Misfits as opposed to the X-men."  
  
Going in through the back door, Bilby went in first and ducked so that he wouldn't get whacked in the head by anything. He was right to do so as Barney squawked, "BAAKK!" and swung his tiny whiffle bat. "He loves hitting people with that." Bilby replied.  
  
Akima stared amazed for a moment. Sitting in a high chair strategically placed at the back door was a little baby mutant with downy tufts of feathers and a beak. He wore a little t-shirt that said Barney on it and wore little sweat pants with Thomas the Tank engine slippers. "Say hi to Akima kiddo. And don't hit her with the bat."  
  
"'kima?" Barney said, blinking.  
  
Bilby lifted him out of the chair, "Wherever you are your brother can't be far behind."  
  
"BAGA WAGGA!" came a shout.  
  
Another baby came toddling out of nowhere and nearly knocked Bilby over. "Oh no you don't." Bilby said, scooping up the other baby.  
  
"Here, hold Claudius for a bit." Bilby handed the other kid off to Akima.  
  
Akima took the little baby that had flippers instead of arms and legs, "You know he's actually kind of..."  
  
Claudius suddenly spit up milk on Akima just then, "...cute."  
  
"He does that to everybody, don't take it personally." Said another female voice, "You must be Akima."  
  
The speaker was a teenage girl with black hair that had electric blue streaks in it. Akima handed the toddler over to the girl who said, "I'm Althea Delgato, This little guy is..."  
  
"Claudie..." The baby giggled as Althea wiped his mouth and the front of his little sailor suit off. She handed Akima another towel.  
  
"I am." Akima replied, "Bilby told me a lot about you guys. I even saw some of the other soldiers on the base. Including two guys who really love to argue."  
  
"You mean Leatherneck and Wetsuit." Althea said, rolling her eyes, "Yep this base has characters alright, a few too many if you catch my drift."  
  
"Who's this Sergeant Snuffles I've been hearing about? Are the boys holding Beach Head's girlfriend captive or something?" Akima said.  
  
At this Althea laughed heartily, "If Beach Head was actually able to find a girlfriend I'd be greatly surprised, but that seems like something that they'd actually do. It's almost every Joe's favorite past time, bugging Beach Head."  
  
"So who's Sergeant Snuffles then?" Akima asked.  
  
"He's a teddy bear." Althea replied.  
  
Akima laughed in turn, "Now I've officially seen everything. Mutant babies, kids with super powers, weird soldiers, and now a demented Ranger that sleeps with a teddy bear."  
  
"GIVE ME BACK SERGEANT SNUFFLES!!!"  
  
"He still hasn't finished his tea party with Mr. Stupid and Ms. Pinkfuzzybunnyslippers." Wanda replied in a matter of fact manner from upstairs.  
  
"Aren't you worried he's gonna come in?" Akima asked as the door shuddered again.  
  
"Not really." Althea replied, she then shouted out the door, "He's still got one more crumpet to finish."  
  
"Oh OK." Beach Head replied and stopped crashing into the door.  
  
"What's with those guys and coffee?" Akima asked, indicating Toad, Pietro, and Lance coming downstairs in a Viking getup.  
  
"We are the Viking Sopranos!" they shouted as one, raising half empty coffee cups.  
  
"BA's coffee is absolutely the best. It's the only thing that BA makes that doesn't give us indigestion." Althea replied.  
  
"And then I've heard stories about someone called Trinity..." Akima replied.  
  
"It's actually three someones." Althea replied, "They're my insane sisters that like to experiment on strangers...."  
  
"OWWW! OWW! OUCCCHHHH!!!" came very familiar shouts coming from the Triplet's bedroom.  
  
"Mercy! YEOOWWWWCCHHH!!!"  
  
Althea immediately led the trio racing up the staircase, inside the room Jean Grey and Scott Summers were strapped to two lab tables while Trinity in identical pink lab coats put another charge of voltage through both Scott and Jean. Akima saw that Scott Summers' trousers were down, exposing the red hearts on his boxer shorts.  
  
Akima and Bilby released the prisoners while Althea dealt with her sisters saying loudly, "You guys shouldn't experiment on guests, even if they are the X-men."  
  
When that was done she whispered, "Great job guys, keep up the good work."  
  
"OK." Trinity whispered to Althea, "We won't spy on you and Toad if you let us experiment on the X-men."  
  
"It's a done deal." Althea whispered back.  
  
"Akima, welcome to the Misfit house." Bilby said, as he did he was scanning the air constantly for something.  
  
Suddenly a green parrot flapped erratically through the air squawking, "Welcome to the Hotel California. (hic) Such a lovely place (hic) Such a lovely face (hic)..."  
  
"What's the matter with him?" Akima asked.  
  
"Severely alcoholic." Bilby whisperred.  
  
"Awk! I heard that Aussie! Awk!" Polly replied, it's breath stinking of tequila.  
  
"Boy is Shipwreck gonna be mad when he finds out you got into that bottle of rare tequila he shipped over from Mexico." Bilby replied.  
  
"Awk! He has a dozen bottles more where that came from, he won't miss it! Awk!" Polly said, "How do you think Polly became a drunk, living in this household. Awk! Space lady steer clear! Awk!"  
  
"Akima, don't mind him. He's just a parrot with a few missing brain cells." Bilby replied.  
  
"A few?" Akima asked, quizzically, "I'd say he's missing half of his brain."  
  
"Awk! I'm still smarter than my owner! Awk!" Polly replied.  
  
"I heard that Feather Head!" Shipwreck shouted and came running up the staircase with an armload of fruits and vegetables that he started slinging at the parrot.  
  
"Awk! You have lousy aim swabbie! Awk!" Polly teased.  
  
"Warm up the over, there's gonna be Parrot Under Glass on the menu!" Shipwreck shouted.  
  
Shipwreck lobbed a mushy tomato at Polly but it missed and flew into Cover Girl's room, nailing her squarely in the forehead. "Shipwreck." She hissed between clenched teeth.  
  
"Uh oh! By the way Cover Girl, I think that blush looks very fetching." Shipwreck replied. "Dad. You could have tried I'm sorry instead." Althea said, poking her head into the hallway.  
  
"My brain froze up." Shipwreck protested.  
  
"Your brain must be stuck in Antarctica then, because it always freezes up." Althea replied.  
  
"Yipe!" Shipwreck shouted as Cover Girl came running out of the room with an armload of vegetables and started pelting Shipwreck with them.  
  
Suddenly feathers started to fly out of Shipwreck's room and Akima, Bilby, Althea and all the others crowded the door to see Shipwreck and Cover Girl whacking each other with pillows.  
  
"Even the adults in this house are insane." Akima remarked, "I think somebody deserves a medal for putting up with all this insanity."  
  
"Not when he's taken a part in it!" Trinity protested.  
  
"Hey! I only supplied you with all those vegetables you needed to attack the X-men. It's called building rapport with indigenous forces." Bilby replied.  
  
"You threw a tomato at Peter." Trinity protested.  
  
"That's because Metal Muscles threw a rather sizeable pumpkin at my head." Bilby replied, "I was operating within the rules of engagement, no one fires until fired upon."  
  
"You're starting to sound like Avalanche right now." Trinity replied.  
  
"I heard that Trinity!" Avalanche snapped.  
  
"Kitty, pretty please come back to me!" they sang.  
  
"That's it! Die!" Lance shouted.  
  
"Oh no!" Bilby groaned and shoved Akima into the nearest room and shut the door when the barrage of whipped cream came flying his way. Bilby retreated and then returned with a few tomatoes which he started pelting the Trinity with.  
  
Akima, her ear to the door, could hear the sounds of fighting just outside. "You'll get used to it eventually." Cover Girl said, from inside the room.  
  
"I didn't realize that the army in this dimension was that psychotic." Akima replied.  
  
"Let's just say this isn't your average Army base and leave it at that." Cover Girl replied, "Now if you'll excuse me..."  
  
"Girls stop this food fighting right this instant!!!!" Cover Girl shouted out the door only to be clobbered by a chocolate cream pie thrown by Trinity, "That's it, you three have KP for an entire month!!!"  
  
"Food fights, drunk parrots, crazy triplets and earthquakes. What exactly have I gotten myself into?" Akima wondered aloud.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
What exactly is going to happen next? Will Akima get used to the Misfit household? With the household overcrowded, which of the girls (X-men, Misfit or adult) will she room with (I am open to suggestion)?  
  
Scott: SR, why do you insist on torturing us with Trinity.  
  
SR: Face it Scott, you and your X-men have been haughty and mean to the Misfits and held your noses airborne for so long. Basically I'm saying you deserve it.  
  
Jean: Well I don't want to room with some space jockey from another dimension.  
  
Bilby: Hey Jean, babysitting time (Puts Barney in her arms)!  
  
Barney: BAK!!! (Bonks Jean repeatedly with baseball bat)  
  
SR: Jean, when will you ever learn not to insult the girlfriends of other people.  
  
Rogue: Better than Jean stealing them all the time...  
  
Jean: Hey! OWW!! 


	16. Room Mate Ruminations

Room Mate Ruminations  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
After dinner had ended in yet another food fight, Akima sat tiredly on the bed in Cover Girl's room. The former model had been gracious enough to move an extra bed into the room for Akima to sleep in.  
  
"It's a lot to take in, isn't it?" Cover Girl asked.  
  
"If I survived Earth being blown up, living adrift in space, being chased around the universe by the Drej, and being captured by the Heartless I can survive this." Akima replied.  
  
"I do have to go downstairs to the girls' room for their little sleepover." Cover Girl said.  
  
"I"ll go with you." Akima replied.  
  
At the sound of shouts and shrieks Cover Girl turned around, "Maybe I'll head down there in an hour or so, when their batteries are wound down."  
  
"The way those kids go, I think we'd have fallen asleep where we sit before they even are the least bit tired." Akima replied, "When I lived on the New Houston drifter colony kids used to play all the time, but they didn't have as much wide open spaces as they do on planets."  
  
Cover Girl said, "I can't imagine that kind of life. When I was a little girl I never liked small areas. I would have hated to be surrounded by rusted spaceship hulls all my life."  
  
"Well, I got used to it." Akima replied, "When the Titan created a new planet for us, we felt a great relief, maybe our struggles were over. That's when the Heartless attacked us."  
  
"We tried to resist them." Akima continued, "My fiance, Cale was the leader of the resistance movement. We were discovered and the Heartless captured and executed hundreds of our resistance and we nearly were on the verge of going out until the Gamma unit sent an eight man team to help us out."  
  
Akima related the entire story. How the Gamma unit had helped the Resistance mount more and more effective strikes against the Heartless. How she and Bilby had fallen in love after he had comforted her over Cale and the near death of the dream of a New Earth.  
  
"You seem to be fairly popular with the men of the base." Akima observed.  
  
"Being a former runway model will do that for you." Cover Girl said, "They can make us wear uniforms, put rifles in our hands, and tell us to take hills but you can't take the girliness out of us. You seem to be able to balance both fairly well."  
  
"Yeah, well life in the drifter colony didn't exactly cotton to sexism." Akima replied, "But anyway you seem to be on good terms with a lot of them, but you don't know which one's right for you. I'll give you a hint, he's right in front of your face and you'd never expect him to be the one."  
  
"Who pray tell would that be?" Cover Girl asked coyly.  
  
"Shipwreck." Akima said, rather straightforwardly.  
  
Cover Girl looked like she had been told that she had a rare and incurable skin condition and had three days left to live, "Shipwreck? You think that I'm a matched set with Shipwreck. How much did he pay you to say that?"  
  
"You insult me." Akima said, "I can practically feel a certain chemistry between you two. He covers it by acting like his usually Neanderthal womanizing self and you cover it by clobbering him with heavy objects."  
  
"YEOW! OWW! NOT THE LIGHTNING AGAIN! ORORO HAVE MERCY!" came the agonized scream from downstairs.  
  
Akima smiled coyly, "See, I saw you wince when you heard Shipwreck."  
  
"I was wincing because Ororo really let him have it this time." Cover Girl protested.  
  
"It really must burn you up when he starts chasing other women, doesn't it." Akima said.  
  
"What?" Cover Girl asked, shocked.  
  
"I can see the signs. I could see them when you and Shipwreck got into that pillow fight earlier today. Admit it, you enjoyed it." Akima replied, "I could see you blushing like a new bride on her wedding day."  
  
"I was 'blushing' because I was raving mad at that moronic, egotistical...airbag." Cover Girl protested.  
  
"Don't you think Shipwreck's been through enough heartache?" Akima asked honestly.  
  
"How do you know?" Cover Girl asked.  
  
"Bilby told me and what I didn't know, I asked Althea." Akima replied.  
  
More lightning flashed, "YEEAAGGGHHH!!!" Shipwreck shouted. From the window, Akima and Cover Girl could see Shipwreck being chased around by a tiny storm cloud that fired bolts of lightning at random into his rear end.  
  
Cover Girl felt a flash of anger, 'Ohh you African High Riding Snob, at least I don't give Shipwreck THAT much grief when he hits on me.'  
  
She didn't notice her fist clenched and her jaw tightened. She turned to see Akima smiling like a Cheshire Cat, "See."  
  
"It's not what you think. It's just that I'm mad at Shipwreck for being such a..."  
  
"Natural flirt." Akima finished, "He hasn't gotten any sort of indication from you and thus he doesn't feel like he's got any strings attached involving you."  
  
"Did Bilby tell you all of that too?" Cover Girl asked.  
  
Akima nodded. "Remind me to strangle him when I get the chance." Cover Girl said.  
  
Akima gave her a mock glare, "You're gonna have to go through me first." Akima replied.  
  
"Well aside from the fact that you think I've got a thing for Shipwreck, you're not that bad as far as room mates go." Cover Girl replied, "It beats living in the same room with Shana and Allie. Those two would get into arguments almost every single day. By the way, call me Courtney when I'm off duty."  
  
"Shana and Allie?" Akima asked.  
  
"They're Scarlet and Lady Jaye respectively. You haven't met them yet." Cover Girl said, "They used to argue so much I moved in with Jinx for a while and when Falcon popped in when one of us was partially undressed one time too many I started sleeping in the motor pool for a while, then I wound up here."  
  
"What drew you to Bilby?" Cover Girl asked.  
  
"It was the way he believed so passionately in his mission to free my world. I could see how he was fighting for very personal reasons. I thought it was awsome that he was willing to risk his life so that no other world would have to suffer what he went through." Akima replied.  
  
"Help me! Help me! Awk!" came another shriek from outside.  
  
Cover Girl opened the door to find Polly smelling of smoke with several singed feathers. "Awk! General alarm! General alarm! Awk!" Polly shouted.  
  
"What's the alarm." Cover Girl asked.  
  
"Awk! Triplets experimenting with flamethrower again. Awk!" Polly replied.  
  
"Oh no, not again." Cover Girl replied, "You'd best stay here before yet another disaster comes around."  
  
"I'm going to bed anyway." Akima replied, "I haven't seen a more crazy or jury rigged household in my entire life."  
  
Cover Girl turned the lights off as she left the room. "Courtney, could you do me a favor and leave one of the lights on. I spent too much time in the dark between being blindfolded and shoved into dark cells when I was in the hands of the Heartless." Akima replied.  
  
"Sure." Cover Girl replied and left the beside lamp on.  
  
Akima yawned and closed her eyes. It really had been a long and busy day, but at least she knew she had found safety and very possibly a home.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Up next. The Keyblade makes an appearance along with two very familiar faces. More X-men and Misfit mayhem and some elements of plot soon to follow. RoguefanKC I didn't post this in the X-men Evolution section because most of the time I've put fics in there they get buried and forgotten within a few days (Of course I ran into blocks writing several of them but this one's different.) 


	17. The Tale of the Bagaboo

The Tale of the Bagaboo  
  
Author's Note/Disclaimer: Same as before.And the Keyblade's on its way. I just had to post this little ghost story bit because I felt like it.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Man I hate the fact that Xavier's making us train with those maniacs again." Bobby Drake grumbled.  
  
"It's no fun for us either popsicle." Toad replied. After another exhaustive training day the boys were getting ready for bed when the lights suddenly went out.  
  
A Coleman portable lantern was immediately turned on. "Now what?" Peter complained.  
  
"Power brownouts, they happen all the time. Why is Russkie Dusky afraid of the dark?" Lance laughed.  
  
"Very funny." Peter replied.  
  
"Now what do we do?" Roberto whined, "We can't watch movies, read magazines or nothing with only this lousy lantern."  
  
"We could tell scary stories." Multiple said.  
  
"How lame is that Multiple." Peter replied.  
  
"Yeah." Berserker added, "That's just dumb."  
  
Undaunted Jamie said, "Are you sure you don't wanna hear this great ghost story Bilby told me?"  
  
"Multiple what did we say about...." Forge said, then grinned, "Did you say great ghost story."  
  
"Yeah, it's about this creature that hides in the Australian Outback called the Bagaboo." Jamie replied.  
  
"Aw, Jamie, what kind of a hokey name is the Bagaboo?" Roberto chimed in.  
  
"I don't know, it's some kind of Aboriginee story." Jamie replied.  
  
"How could a monster with the name Bagaboo be scary?" Pietro chimed in, "Hi I'm the Bagaboo, I'm gonna eat you right now."  
  
Pietro started stalking around the room, hunched over going, "Howdy do, I'm the Bagaboo."  
  
Until he tripped over the lantern and rolled into a wall where he knocked himself out that is. "Anyway. Bilby said that on stormy, dark nights in the Australian Outback, the Bagaboo comes out of its dark and scary cave to go hunt down campers. It's a hideous monster that waits in your back yard to dismember you." Jamie continued.  
  
"I've never heard anything so dumb in my entire life. Well except for Blob's farm stories." Lance replied.  
  
"HEY!" Fred protested, "NO ONE INSULTS MY FARM STORIES AND LIVES!"  
  
Fred charged across the room, picked up Lance, airplane spun him and threw him onto Scott's sleeping form. Lance landed very hard on Scott's stomach. "OW! ALVERS STOP IT!"  
  
"Guys shut up!" Forge shouted, "I wanna hear the 'scary' parts."  
  
"Right. Slowly the Bagaboo approached the innocent campers. It's horrible fangs glistened in the moonlight..." Jamie began.  
  
"What was that sound?" Bobby asked.  
  
"Oh shut up! This is scary enough!" Jamie replied.  
  
The sound of heavy, walking footsteps could be heard. "IT'S THE BAGABOO!" Forge shouted.  
  
"Oh no! Oh no!" Scott shouted, "Turn of the lantern, lie still!"  
  
"It's opening the door, we're doomed." Berserker moaned.  
  
"AAGGGHH!! There it is!" Forge shouted, "Blind it with the lantern! Throw a blanket over its head! Run guys run!!!!!"  
  
Downstairs, the adults heard a lot of racket. "What's going on now?" Roadblock groaned.  
  
"It's coming from the boys' room." Bilby added.  
  
"Duh, we know that." Cover Girl added, sleepily.  
  
More shouts could be heard from upstairs.  
  
"The Bagaboo!"  
  
"Kill it! Kill it!"  
  
"Oh man that was my guitar you just ruined! Nice going Toad!"  
  
"Run for your lives!"  
  
All the X-boys and male Misfits came charging down the stairs. The bowled into the adults, knocking them over like bowling pins. "Are you kids OK?" Roadblock asked.  
  
"Where's Shipwreck?" Cover Girl asked, "He just went out to check on you guys."  
  
"The Bagaboo must've got him." Toad said, clinging to Roadblock's neck.  
  
"Where are those kids!!!" came a shout from upstairs.  
  
"THE BAGABOO!!!!" Scott shouted and jumped into Professor Xavier's arms.  
  
"The Bagaboo?" Akima asked, sleepily, coming out of the room she and Cover Girl shared.  
  
"Uh?" Bilby said.  
  
Immediately every pair of eyes in the room glanced at Bilby, "What? That was only an old Australian ghost story I told. I didn't think it would be that bad."  
  
"Ya think?" Roadblock replied, "You told a ghost story to a bunch of hyperactive mutant kids with overactive imaginations. Boy how bored do you get at those Australian sheep ranching stations."  
  
"I didn't grow up on a ranching station mate." Bilby replied, "I grew up on the Australian coast."  
  
Before anyone else could reply a ghastly apparition appeared atop the staircase saying, "Wuh. Wuh. Wuh."  
  
"THE BAGABOO!!!!" all the X-boys and male Misfits shouted.  
  
The apparition stepped forward and tripped on a roller skate atop the staircase and came crashing down the stairs. Cover Girl pointed a flashlight at it and said, "Shipwreck?"  
  
"Put me in left field coach! I'll stop that home run derby...." Shipwreck said, with a dazed look in his eyes.  
  
"I think we've found your Bagaboo boys." Ororo groaned.  
  
"What have we learned from this." Captain Fetterman asked Bilby.  
  
"Never tell these kids any sort of ghost story." Bilby replied.  
  
"Bingo." Fetterman replied.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Meanwhile, elsewhere a pair of erstwhile adventurers walked along a path. "Hey Goofy." Donald said, "My staff's glowing and beeping."  
  
"Gawsh Donald, maybe it's time to get a new staff. Hyuck. Hyuck."  
  
"Very funny Goofy. But this means the Keyblade's chosen another person to bear it." Donald replied.  
  
"Gawsh Donald...." Goofy began. Suddenly the pair were surrounded by a mass of Heartless. They started to fight them, but their numbers proved to be very great, despite Donald's use of the Firaga spell and Goofy whacking them with his shield.  
  
Suddenly a sleek spaceship flew over their heads and started strafing the Heartless with deadly energy beams. The smell of ozone and burnt flesh was all that remained of the attacking horde.  
  
The cargo bay of the ship opened when it touched the ground and the pair climbed aboard. They saw an alien walking on kangaroo like legs approaching them.  
  
"Hello." Goofy said.  
  
"Who are you?" Donald asked.  
  
"Any enemy of the Heartless is a friend of ours. We might ask the same of you, featherhead."  
  
"I'm Donald, wizard of the court of King Mickey and this is Goofy, Captain of the Guard."  
  
"Stith." The alien replied, "Me and Gune, my partner, use our ship, the Valkyrie, to fight the Heartless away from any universe that needs us. Our world was consumed by the Heartless a year ago."  
  
"We're looking for someone who will wield a weapon that will help overthrow the Heartless." Donald said, "My staff will glow brighter as we approach that person, use it as a way to find a way to defeat the Heartless."  
  
Stith lead them to the cockpit where a short, squat, green alien with glasses sat at the controls, "Gune, here's our new map."  
  
Stith shoved Donald in front of Gune. "When that blue stone on his stick glows brighter you're going the right way. Hopefully we find the guy holding that ultimate weapon and that world before the Heartless find him." Stith replied. The Valkyrie set off in search of the bearer of the Keyblade.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Don't worry, the bearer(s) will be known shortly. I just had to get that little Bagaboo story out of my head before I could continue with more plot related chapters. 


	18. Reinforcements

Reinforcements  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Akima awoke the next morning and cautiously opened the bedroom door. Cover Girl's bed was empty, and she didn't hear the profusion of noise, mayhem, and destruction that was characteristic of the Misfit household at almost all times. She threw her clothing on and walked downstairs, finding nobody in the house.  
  
She could hear a coffee pot brewing in the kitchen and saw Bilby pouring two cups. He offered one to her, which she accepted. "Where are all the others?" Akima asked.  
  
"Training." Bilby said, "I was about to head out with them until Fetterman gave me the day off to look after you."  
  
"But wouldn't that get you in trouble?" Akima asked.  
  
"Technically no. Under the regulations you classify as a displaced person and that technically places you under the charge of my world and that makes you a de facto resident. In English that means that whatever relationship I had with you I can resume." Bilby replied.  
  
Akima took this in, and it was several seconds before she completely grasped what Bilby was saying. Legalese aside that meant no more furtive sneaking about, no more subtle gestures. In effect the gates were wide open and Captain Fetterman gave his man his full blessing to continue the relationship. She looked up at Bilby, casually sipping his coffee. He looked so different out of uniform, wearing a gray Tour de France t-shirt, black cargo trousers with a pair of sunglasses worn over his head.  
  
"So what say you and I go around and do some stupid touristy things around the Pit until lunchtime, where I'll take you over to the Enlisted Club, and then go catch a flick at the base movie theater?" Bilby asked.  
  
"I don't have any complaints." Akima replied.  
  
They finished breakfast, chit chatting about old times, making updates on their respective lives. They walked outside, it was a warm late spring day, flowers were in full bloom, tress and grass sported young and full greenery, and butterflies flapped about through the flowers.  
  
"So then this biker girl's boyfriend threatens to throw Stoney and his moped into the retention pond." Bilby finished his tale of the Orlando vacation he, Stoney, Hedaya, Falk, Morgan and Link had gone on six months before.  
  
"What about you?" Akima asked, "How was your trip?"  
  
"It was alright." Bilby replied.  
  
"Really?" Akima asked, with a raised eyebrow.  
  
"Not really. Actually the guys were trying to comfort me that week." Bilby replied, "I'd never gone on so many blind dates in my entire life."  
  
"I'd like to hear some of those stories." Akima replied.  
  
"Well, there was this one exquisitely well proportioned waitress that was serving us at King Henry's feast. Falk and Stoney chatted her up, pointed me out and set me up for a dinner date later that night." Bilby replied, "Well, things were going smoothly, I found her to be a charming, intelligent young woman as well."  
  
"How did this one turn out?" Akima asked.  
  
"Disastrously." Bilby replied.  
  
"How could you call a date like that a disaster?" Akima replied.  
  
"I'm getting there." Bilby replied, "It was during dinner, when I asked her name, she said it was Pierre. I was mildly intoxicated and a little blitzed but I was sober enough to realize that Pierre is the name of a French male. I made some lame excuse and hot footed it all the way back to my hotel."  
  
Akima laughed, "So Falk and Stoney set you up with a French transvestite."  
  
"Yes, exactly." Bilby replied, "Lets just say that we had a massive food fight that rivaled the Misfits and really put more items on our bill. I'd never thought that Stoney could fly until I saw him get thrown fifty feet into the cacti patch."  
  
Akima was regaining her breath when she said, "I still can't believe Stoney - "  
  
Her sentence was broken when the sound of an aircraft flying overhead drowned out her woods. Looking up she could see the sleek lines of a spacecraft from her dimension. She recognized it as the Valkyrie.  
  
"Where's the airfield?" Akima asked.  
  
"I'm heading that way right now." Bilby replied.  
  
As the ship docked, Akima and Bilby saw two very familiar faces disembark. The first was a kangaroo like alien with powerful legs, and the second, a short, squat alien with glasses. "Gune. Stith." Akima grinned excitedly, running up to them. The trio embraced as Bilby stood off to one side, uncertain where he belonged.  
  
Two more figures emerged from the gang ramp. They belonged to none other than the court wizard, Donald, and the captain of the guard, Goofy. Bilby, as well as every Gamma soldier, was briefed on first contact procedures. He immediately contacted Captain Fetterman by radio.  
  
"Gentleman. The mission commander should be here any minute." Bilby replied.  
  
Gune and Stith were greatly surprised. Akima was supposedly dead, but here she was, standing before them in the flesh. Akima caught them up on how she had been replaced by a double and had been alive all the time when a jeep pulled up with both General Hawk and Captain Fetterman.  
  
"Greetings Captain." Donald said, "After centuries of searching we have found the wielder of the Keyblade."  
  
"The Keyblade?" Hawk asked.  
  
"Do you know what this means sir? It means that the war could be well on the way to its end. The prophesy of the Keyblade was that the wielder would return when the companions of Sora appeared again." Fetterman replied.  
  
"What is this Keyblade? Are you saying one of my men may be its wielder?" Hawk said.  
  
"It's a weapon of awesome power that can lock the doors or open the doors to any dimension." Donald explained, "With it, we can keep the Heartless from attacking any more worlds, and also the bearer can use it to fight the Heartless in worlds they already infest."  
  
"Very likely, General." Goofy said, "Donald's staff is blinking like crazy."  
  
Donald took a few steps down the runway and the staff started to blink even more. "That's in the direction of Shipwreck's house." Bilby said.  
  
"You're saying that Shipwreck could be the Keyblade wielder?" Hawk replied.  
  
"God help us." Akima replied, "If that's the case."  
  
The staff kept beeping and blinking with more and more vigor as it approached the house. As evidenced by the vehicles in front, all the Misfits and X-men were back. "Whoa, who are the strange new guys?" Toad asked.  
  
"Toad, these are Stith, Gune, Donald, and Goofy." Bilby replied, "I served with Gune and Stith during the Titan mission. Donald and Goofy, I've never met before, but they are going to help you guys fight the Heartless."  
  
Donald's staff beeped wildly as it steered him towards the Misfits, "One of your number, pure of heart shall the Keyblade choose as its bearer."  
  
"That excludes the Misfits." Scott Summers said, "We all know how impure of heart they are."  
  
"Gawrsh, doesn't that old saying go that people in stone houses shouldn't throw glass." Goofy said.  
  
"That's people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones Goofy." Donald replied.  
  
"Are you implying that we aren't pure of heart." Jean protested.  
  
"Exactly." Donald said, pointing the staff at the X-men, the vigorous beeping and blinking of the gem atop the staff began to decrease in intensity and stopped altogether when pointed at Scott, Jean and Ororo. The blinking picked up as Donald pointed his staff at the Misfits.  
  
It really intensified when Donald pointed it at Lance. "You, bearer of the Keyblade, it is our mission to accompany you on your quest against the Heartless."  
  
Lance stood there, stunned beyond all possible belief. Yet it was true, the wizard with his staff seemed a hundred and ten percent convinced that he, Lance Alvers, was the one to take the fight for the Heartless.  
  
"We must talk privately about this Lance." Spirit said, leading the stunned Alvers away.  
  
"Wait a minute?" Scott protested, "How does Alvers have a more pure heart than any of us?"  
  
"Lance is a diamond in the rough." Donald said, "Apparently the way you treat those whom you regard as inferior is less than stellar. You act imperious, with your noses held high in the air. Arrogance is as bad as evil."  
  
"I'm not ready for that kind of responsibility." Lance protested, "Bilby told me what the task of the Keyblade wielder entails."  
  
"The Keyblade will come to you when it feels you are ready." Donald replied.  
  
"Yeah, hyuck, in the mean time it is our job to keep you safe." Goofy said.  
  
"Great, now I've got bodyguards around me. Can my life not get any more bizarre?" At that moment, the short, squat little green alien with glasses, Gune, was turning a cassette tape in his hands. "Hmmm, primitive human musical storage device. I wonder what sort of music it contains?"  
  
Gune, a scientist and an individual known for experimentation popped the tape in and immediately the Martian Hop sounded across Shipwreck's massive stereo system into the house.  
  
"Eeeeeeeeeee-eeeeee-eeeee! The Martian Hop!!" started playing.  
  
"Oh God no! Not the Martian Hop!" Lance replied.  
  
"What idiot decided to play that song." Jean replied.  
  
They turned to see Gune standing in front of the radio bopping in time to the music along with both Barney and Claudius in their little playpen, "Eeeeeeeeee-eeeee-eeee!" they all screeched.  
  
"What is that awful racket?" Stith asked.  
  
"I believe it's music." Bilby replied, "Utterly annoying music, but still music."  
  
"It's times like this where I'm the Drej had destroyed a lot of our music." Akima replied.  
  
Scott turned off the radio, "Wait, I was just enjoying the nice music." Gune protested.  
  
"Enjoy it some other time. That song is EVIL!" Peter replied, pushing Gune out of the way.  
  
"Hey! Nobody messes with Gune and LIVES!" Stith shouted and, balancing on her tail, kicked Colossus with her powerful legs.  
  
Scott Summers tried to yank Stith off of Colossus but wound up getting kicked instead. Jean tried to telekinetically lift Stith off her feet but Akima shoving her distracted her aim, with a single punch from Akima Jean hit the ground. Scott tried to yank Akima off of Jean, but wound up eating the carpet for desert after getting a knuckle sandwich, courtesy of a hard right from Bilby.  
  
"Can I borrow your whiffle bat Barney?" Roadblock asked.  
  
"If you idiots don't cut it out I will kill you in cold blood!!!!!" Roadblock shouted, chasing mess of fighting X-men, Misfits, and Valkyrie crewmen with the bat. It was a long time and prompted the arrival of Law and Order before any semblence of peace was restored to the Misfit household.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
So there you have it. Lance Alvers is the one who shall wield the Keyblade. Many thanks to Red Witch for letting me use her characters. Don't worry, this tale is FAR from over. 


	19. Operation Tigress Trap

Operation Tigeress Trap  
  
Disclaimer: Same as always.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
The Baroness drove in the back seat of a late model 2003 Lincoln Navigator as the helicopter flew alongside her. "Keep driving." She said to the viper at the wheel. She was unnaturally calm for a COBRA about to be captured. She didn't know, couldn't know that a Gamma operator had been following her whereabouts for three days and chose this day to spring the trap.  
  
"Ma'am?" the viper replied.  
  
"Just follow my order." Baroness ordered.  
  
In the helicopter Hedaya tapped Bilby on the shoulder. Bilby squeezed off a single round from his telescopic rifle which punctured the engine block of the Lincoln. On her communicator the Baroness said, "All is going as planned Commander."  
  
She smiled seductively as several GI Joe and Gamma troopers surrounded the vehicle and carted off the occupants.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Meanwhile Akima sat with Gune and Stith on the front porch of Shipwreck's house. Bilby, Hedaya, and Fetterman were on a mission in the Bahamas where Falk had spotted the Baroness leaving a COBRA R&R facility. Cover Girl and Low Light were also on the mission. Thankfully Stormshadow, Jinx and the Blind Master were able to cover for them. Akima, Gune, and Stith were preparing class schedules for the next three days. Akima was going to work with a GI Joe named Ace and teach basic flight skills on both the simulator and the trainer. Gune was teaching science and technology, and Stith was teaching weapons handling.  
  
Dave Morgan and Stoney Brown joined the trio on the porch. They were tasked with pulling roving guard duties on the house and the dojo where Lance and Spirit were doing some one on one training together with Goofy and Donald.  
  
"Who's in charge of training this morning?" Stoney asked Akima.  
  
"I think Link is." Akima replied, "They were doing some sort of mountaineering training."  
  
"Oh God! I feel sorry for those kids. Link is a fanatic about cross country skiing, mountaineering, and general physical conditioning. Put it this way, he makes Beach Head look like a prissy dance instructor in a pink tutu." Dave replied.  
  
"Is he really that bad?" Stith asked.  
  
"Yes!" Both Stoney and Dave replied. In the Gamma Unit, each soldier had an opportunity to lead the troop on some sort of training exercise in his area of expertise. Whenever Linkovich Chumovsky, who was by far the best mountaineer in the Mountain Troop, was in charge of the evolution in question, it could be guaranteed to hurt.  
  
The first of the Misfits came staggering in, some of the X-men were dragging their arms along the ground. "I don't see what's so hard about it. It was just a little mountain climbing." A familiar Slavic voice sounded.  
  
Stoney and Dave rolled their eyes, "Link, what did you do?"  
  
"I just took them on a simple ten mile hike through the mountains." Link replied, the training had begun the day before yesterday.  
  
"Simple hike!" Wanda glowered, "Simple hike! More like two five mile forced marches with sixty pound backpacks."  
  
"We're in a better state than the X-Geeks though." Toad smiled, indicating the X-men who looked like they had been run over by a dozen semi trucks a piece.  
  
"Well, look on the bright side, you have flight training tomorrow." Akima replied, "Which one of you is Kitty Pryde?"  
  
Kitty half raised an arm, "I am."  
  
"Well, it looks like you're first to fly tomorrow." Akima replied.  
  
"Are you insane?!" Misfits and X-men alike shouted.  
  
"It's only a simulator. Next week you guys will train with the Cessna trainers..." Akima began.  
  
"We're gonna die." Bobby Drake groaned, "I know it, we're gonna die."  
  
"It's not fair." Pietro clamored, "There's so many people I haven't annoyed yet."  
  
"Trust me Pietro, the list isn't all that short." Lance groaned.  
  
"Well, you've got Gune teaching you how to invent things." Akima replied, with a mock yawn, "Then you've got Stith here teaching you how to handle all sorts of futuristic weaponry...."  
  
"You're letting those kids learn to fire a gun?" Roadblock moaned, "I'll help you pick up all the debris, and it isn't gonna be fun."  
  
"You said that you wanted us to teach them our areas of expertise." Akima protested, "Mine is flying fighters, Gune's is inventing things, and Stith's is blowing them to teeny tiny bits."  
  
"Great, an alien version of Firefly with a Low Light personality transplant on some severe steroids in the legs." Shipwreck moaned.  
  
"Care to repeat that." Stith said, holding Shipwreck upside down over a bucket filled with live crabs.  
  
"No." Shipwreck replied.  
  
"Oh well." Stith replied and dropped him in anyway.  
  
"No, that's being an amateur." Ororo said, summoning lightning to fry Shipwreck's behind she added, "THIS is how you sock it to Shipwreck."  
  
"If Cover Girl saw that she'd be very upset with you." Akima said, "At least she is somewhat civil when she brushes off Shipwreck, which is more than I can say for you."  
  
Offended, Storm said, "Are you implying I am some kind of...."  
  
"Cruel, high riding, snobby..." Akima replied.  
  
That was about as far as Akima got before Storm lifted her airborne with a gust of wind, "Not so tough without your Australian beau are you?" Storm replied angrily.  
  
Stith turned blood red and leaped at Storm who quickly launched a barrage of lightning at the kangaroo like alien.  
  
"Bad choice Weather Bitch!" Stith replied, "All lightning strikes do to my race is make us really really mad...."  
  
Stith proceeded to kick Storm into a tree and catch Akima before she hit the ground.  
  
"Nice save Stith." Akima replied.  
  
Goofy and Donald showed up to grab a quick bite to eat. Kitty turned towards them and asked, "How's Lance doing?"  
  
"Probably being ground into the dust by all that intensive ninja training." Peter smirked.  
  
"Peter, you are such an IDIOT!" Kitty snapped and stomped back into the house, tears streaming from her eyes.  
  
"Gawrsh Peter, for someone who loves Kitty so much, you sure weren't considerate about her feelings." Goofy replied.  
  
"I still don't see what she sees in that hood, Lance." Peter replied.  
  
"I heard you two have been duking it out over Kitty for a long time now." Goofy replied, "If really love Kitty, you'll let her go. If she really loves you, she'll come back. If you love somebody, set them free."  
  
Goofy and Donald got back into their jeep, "I'll drive." Donald said, "I don't want us to get killed before the Keyblade wielder is ready."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Nice man, very smooth." David Falk said, as Jose Hedaya handed him his rifle. Falk was wearing civilian clothing, loose fitting baggy pants, a gray t-shirt and a cargo vest as well as Oakley sunglasses. He looked a lot like a civilian journalist riding a bicycle around the island, which wasn't unusual.  
  
"Single shot through the engine block." Bilby bragged.  
  
"That's a shame, that was a nice Lincoln." David Falk replied.  
  
"Are we ready to go?" Flint replied.  
  
"We're all good to go." David Falk indicated with a thumbs up to accentuate his words.  
  
"Trinity, take us home." Flint said over his radio and the helicopter flew out over the ocean only to vanish into thin air as it flew over the horizon.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
As Goofy and Donald left to return to the dojo another jeep pulled up with Bilby and the others in it. Akima practically jumped down the steps leading off of Shipwreck's porch and ran towards Bilby, who folded his arms around her.  
  
Fetterman and the rest of the Gamma unit saw how Bilby's entire demeanor changed when Akima had been rescued. Where he was once abrasive, withdrawn, and cynical, his spirits were now lifted, his morale improved, and he was more optimistic.  
  
Kitty Pryde watched the scene through tears, if only her love life could be that simple. It seemed that Bilby and Akima had eyes for only each other. Ironically, it was thanks to that Keyblade that made choosing between two guys so much easier. Lance literally had the weight of countless worlds upon his shoulder and for the past week she had barely been able to even see him but whenever he returned from the dojo he looked tired, more tired and care worn than she had ever seen him before. Why had she treated him so wrongly all this time? Why did she start going with Peter and causing him all the heartache when he needed her the most? Why did she push him away when he needed her care and affection the most?  
  
She was so distracted that she didn't see the mysterious old man behind her until he spoke. The man's features were obscured by a ragged, hooded cloak and he was hunched over, relying on a crutch, yet he exuded an aura of great knowledge gained at a terrible and horrific price. Just looking at him made the hair on the back of Kitty's neck stand on end.  
  
Just then Akima and Bilby walked into the kitchen where Kitty was standing and froze. "The storm is on the horizon." The old man said, "The Reckoning is at hand and now that the Keyblade has chosen its wielder, the clash of arms shall resound in the City of the Angels."  
  
The man pointed at Akima, "You will learn, child, who you truly are."  
  
He walked up to Bilby, "This Reckoning will require from you a great sacrifice. Only then shall the Keyblade manifest itself. Your heart will be pierced...but your mind uninjured."  
  
He pointed to Kitty, "Your beloved will be tested beyond anything he has yet endured and you will be powerless to come to his aid. Love him and cherish him, for his strength lies with you."  
  
The old man walked away, fading into the shadows with the suddenness that he had appeared.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"AAGGHH!" Lance growled in frustration, "I can't stand it! Why did this stupid blade choose me!"  
  
"Gee I don't know, maybe it sees something in you that even you don't realize." Said a not so mysterious voice.  
  
"Oh no. Don't YOU start commenting on my life! You're the LAST person I want to hear from!" Lance replied.  
  
The coyote appeared from behind the dojo's climbing wall. "Actually as your spirit guide, I should be the FIRST thing you want to see. I'm not a person idiot!"  
  
"I just want to know how on earth some timeless mystical blade thinks I'm this person pure of heart when that's not what I am." Lance replied.  
  
"Hello. Do I need to show you how pure of heart you are? Well it looks like I'm gonna have to." The Coyote with Pietro's voice replied, "First, how you stood up to Magneto when you were being abused by him. Second, how you've reformed since you've joined the Misfits. Third, even your lame attempts to win Kitty's heart qualify you. Satisfied?"  
  
"No." Lance replied, "What makes Goofy and Donald think I can do this? What makes them think I'm the savior of worlds?"  
  
"Very often, heroes come from the most unlikely of places." Said Spirit, walking into the gym with a plate of food, "You need to keep your strength."  
  
"I'm not hungry." Lance replied.  
  
"I know, it is much to take in. But have faith in your comrades. All of us, as well as Goofy and Donald stand by to do anything on your behalf." Spirit replied.  
  
"Yeah, but what if I fail? What if everything that has been done was for nothing?" Lance asked.  
  
"You are afraid." Spirit replied, "I know this. But know this. You are not going through this alone. We are with you to the end."  
  
Lance started to pick at his food as Spirit draped one of his muscular arms around the boy's shoulders. He really did carry a lot on his back, but the boy was ready to face it, he had to be if the world was to survive against a foe far more sinister than even COBRA.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"What did that old man mean?" Akima replied.  
  
"I don't know, but these Prophesies, whenever they are told, invariably come true." Bilby replied.  
  
"Martin, if it means I have to die to save this world and any other from the Heartless, I'll do it." Akima replied.  
  
"Don't talk like that. It's not gonna mean you're the one. The great sacrifice could well be my own life." Bilby replied.  
  
"Whatever it is, don't be afraid to make it when the time comes." Akima replied, "Don't let any more worlds suffer what we have lost."  
  
"Don't worry Akima," Bilby said, holding her close, "I won't."  
  
Inwardly, Martin Bilby was a mess of worry. If this ultimate sacrifice was Akima, would he be willing to make it? He hoped he would, for the sake of many worlds he hoped he would have the strength to make the sacrifice required of him in they cryptic prophesy.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
In her cell the Baroness grinned mischievously. Everything was in order. Now that she was captured, all that had to happen was that a post hypnotic command would be triggered in the mole that was buried deep into the GI Joe base and all would fall into place.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
What is COBRA planning? What sacrifice will Bilby need to make? Will Lance have the strength to carry out his mission? 


	20. Crouching Misfit Hidden COBRA

Crouching Misfit Hidden COBRA  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"How was training today?" Bilby asked from the love seat in the living room, his feet propped up on the arm rest. He had run physical training with Stoney that morning for the kids before their flying lesson from Akima. He was wearing a pair of jogging pants, a wife beater and a pair of dog tags with a towel draped across his shoulders.  
  
Akima walked up to him and Bilby moved to make room for her, putting an arm around her slender waist. "Let's just say I've never seen a flight simulator catch fire in my entire life."  
  
"Huh?" Bilby asked.  
  
"Kitty." Akima replied, "I let her fly first. First she nearly hit the control tower, then she barely missed a barn, then she climbed at too steep an angle and we stalled out. When I took the controls and prevented us from hitting the ground, she got us up to a safe altitude then we nearly collided with a Boeing 747. Kitty tried to phase us through it, but she forgot it was a simulator and every electrical system on that side of the base went dead."  
  
"So in other words, their lesson on inventing things with Gune is being scheduled a tad early." Bilby replied.  
  
"Bingo." Akima groaned, tiredly.  
  
"You haven't been sleeping well, have you?" Bilby asked.  
  
"I kept thinking of that prophesy the old man was telling us yesterday. I hope if that sacrifice is me, you're not going to hesitate." Akima replied.  
  
"I hope to God it isn't, but if it is, I'm willing to make it." Bilby replied, he was close to tears when he said it, "You mean the world to me Akima. When I thought you died, I felt something inside die. It wasn't just knowing you were dead, it was knowing my heart was dead and it was only a question of time before the rest of my body caught up to it that was ripping me apart over the last year."  
  
"I really feel sorry for Kitty though. At least we have the knowledge that we could help each other when the time comes, but Kitty has to live with the fact that she can't help Lance in any real way but to take care of him." Akima replied.  
  
"I always knew Kitty would do something special for Lance, I just wish it wasn't what is to come." Bilby replied.  
  
Akima sidled a little closer to Bilby, "Well, we'd best enjoy what little time we have together."  
  
"True." Bilby said, taking her in his arms, holding her close, just holding her in his arms was sheer joy unto itself for he did not know if he would ever see her again, once the prophesy came to pass. They stayed, entwined in one another's arms and the passion of the embrace for a long time. There was a quality of desperation to their embrace, for neither knew when the prophesy was to take place. As much as he wanted to, Bilby knew he wouldn't use this as an excuse to make love to Akima. If he did so, he would do it on her terms, and not his.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Lance Alvers swung the heavily weighted training sword again, bringing it down on top of the moving target, hitting it with a glancing blow. "Again, do it again and this time hit the target full on."  
  
Lance grunted in frustration. This was the eight time today that he didn't hit that stupid moving target the way Stormshadow wanted it hit. Suddenly he saw a vision, he could see Kitty, her costume torn and ragged. She was suspended in mid air, her head lolling, and if the stream of blood mingling with tears from her closed eyes was any indication, she was in a bad way. The wizard Maleficent was continuing to pump magical energy that struck Kitty, absorbing into her body, causing her to shake and convulse in mid air. Maleficent turned toward Lance who spun and swung the weighted training sword in a downward arc, "Die Maleficent!!!!!"  
  
The target was hit full on and flew off the mounting and crashed against the wall. Lance sunk to the ground, hugging his knees, weeping unashamedly. "Lance?" Donald said, "What happened.  
  
"I saw her." Lance said.  
  
"Saw who?" Donald asked.  
  
"Kitty! Maleficent! Maleficent was torturing Kitty and I couldn't stop her!" Lance said, through tears.  
  
"That's the Darkside trying to reach you. The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes." Donald explained, "It feeds upon anger and hopelessness."  
  
"Well," Lance said, trying to regain some bravado and face, "At least I know what Bilby must have felt like when he lost Akima."  
  
"Lance. You must focus. Worlds depend upon you." Spirit said, taking the boy in his arms.  
  
"I know Spirit! It's not that I don't care about all the other worlds, but I just don't want to have to lose Kitty in the process." Lance replied.  
  
"We've all lost someone to the Heartless at some point." Donald said, "Think of Bilby, his entire family was killed by the Heartless."  
  
"Not to mention Akima." Lance acknowledged.  
  
"Be aware that the Heartless may attempt to use your love for Kitty against you." Donald advised.  
  
"You must meditate and clear your mind once more Lance." Stormshadow advised, "Shower and change and work on your meditation."  
  
"Yes sir." Lance replied.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Elsewhere Stoney, Link, and Morgan stood outside the house smoking cigarettes and talking. Looking at Bilby and Akima, who were taking care of the two babies, they started to shift their conversation.  
  
"Ever notice how Bilby seems to have come to life ever since Akima was rescued?" Morgan asked.  
  
"Da." Link replied, "He's also been more mellow, not as likely to snap at people. He's turning into the old Bilby his former Air Troop mates described."  
  
"*Sniff* It's so beautiful...." Stoney said, wiping a tear out of his eyes as he watched the pair walk arm in arm back into the house with the two babies toddling after them. The sun was setting at the time, and it glowed bright orange red in the receding light.  
  
"Stoney? Are you crying?" Morgan asked.  
  
"No. No. Dave, I'm just wiping some dust outta my eye." Stoney replied, "*Sniff* Ain't love beautiful?"  
  
"Come here Stoney." Link said, as he and Morgan hugged Stoney who started bawling openly.  
  
The angsty moment was broken up by an explosion and the sight of the schoolhouse roof flying into the air. "Let me guess, yet another lesson gone wrong?" Morgan said.  
  
"Yeah Akima told me about how the flight simulator caught fire when Kitty was using it." Stoney replied.  
  
"Bilby told me about how Gune was always a little bit eccentric..." Link began.  
  
"A little eccentric!? The little green monster invents things in his sleep. He actually took my watch apart, and reassembled it." Dave replied.  
  
"So what? Any moron can do that." Link replied, "And what happened to your watch."  
  
"It tells time almost exactly on the atomic time, the most accurate time scale." Dave replied.  
  
"What's wrong with that Morgan?" Stoney asked.  
  
"You'll find out in about five seconds." Dave Morgan complained.  
  
Suddenly his watch alarm started to beep it's hourly chime, "Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot!"  
  
The words sang out mechanically. "And what's worse is I can't shut off the stupid alarm."  
  
"Well you finally found someone who makes a bigger mess out of perfectly good machinery than you." Link replied.  
  
"WHAT?" Dave shouted in reply.  
  
"You're the one who, when he was sleepwalking, tried to tune up Captain Fetterman's alarm clock and it wound up going off every fifteen minutes for a week." Link replied.  
  
"That was ONE incident!" Dave replied.  
  
"Oh yeah, what about the time you tried to make a robot to do all the cooking in the kitchen. You created a monster that left a trail of destruction visible a mile away." Link replied.  
  
The trio argued well into the night before getting tired and falling asleep.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Later that night, Cover Girl was aware of the sound of fidgeting in the bed beside her. She had grown rather used to it. Akima was notoriously skittish in her sleep. It seemed a remarkable contrast. Such a strongly self assured woman when awake, yet also fragile and vulnerable when asleep.  
  
Therefore Cover Girl was fast asleep when Akima, eyes half closed, stood out of her bed and walked into the alcove where the computer was and with a specially encrypted code, sent the coordinates of the areas where both Mindbender and the Baroness were being held to COBRA.  
  
It was one of Mindbender's hidden surprises during the time he had to tinker with her mind. There was no way Akima would remember anything she did, nor would she remember other vital data she had passed on to COBRA and the Heartless, the information regarding the wielder of the Keyblade. The Pit slept soundly, unaware that even as they slept an assault upon it was imminent and that part of the Prophesy of the Keyblade's Return, known only to the clerics deep in the Himalayas of Bilby's dimension, was on its way to being fulfilled.  
  
"The sleeping beauty shall soon awaken." Said the old man, cryptically, "And the warrior's sacrifice must be made."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Lance?" Kitty whispered in his ear.  
  
"Mmm, Kitty....?" Lance asked, waking slowly. At Stormshadow's insistence, he, Spirit, Donald and Goofy slept in the dojo with no visitors permitted. Of course, during his breaks in training, Xi or Polly would go and run interference between the two ardent lovers.  
  
"Lance, why don't you come home?" Kitty asked.  
  
"Kitty, you know what I have to do." Lance replied.  
  
"Yes, I understand. But I still want you to come home." Kitty replied.  
  
"BEGONE DEMON!" Donald shouted with previously unknown intensity and sent an aeroga spell into the apparition. Zarana's disguise fell away as Donald's wind gust stuck her against a post which Goofy tied her to.  
  
"You're too late wizard." Zarana said, "The true power is already on the move."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Akima dressed herself, her eyes, half closed and that sound was unusual for two o'clock in the morning. Cover Girl attempted to stop Akima, only to wind up knocked out, tied up, and gagged on the floor of the room.  
  
She knew Akima wasn't herself, she was obviously in a trance, hypnotized maybe. She could hear a jeep starting in the driveway and the driver sending the vehicle off toward somewhere in the direction of the medical lab.  
  
It took Cover Girl a full hour before she was able to untie herself. She went and alerted the entire base, only to learn that the base already knew that the medical lab was now in the hands of COBRA and the Heartless along with the entire medical staff as hostages...  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
What side is Akima really on? Just what is the sacrifice Bilby must make to manifest the Keyblade? Will the hostages be saved? 


	21. Onward to Darkness

Onward to Darkness  
  
Disclaimer: Same as always.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
The briefing room contained everyone, the Joes not in the Infirmary, the Gamma unit, the Misfits, and the X-men. "What's the status?" Hawk asked.  
  
"Sir, A large contingent of COBRAs and Heartless have taken over the Infirmary." Law reported.  
  
"Rescue team assembled and ready to go." Flint said.  
  
"Flint, don't rush into it just yet." Hawk said.  
  
"We're ready sir." Fetterman reported.  
  
"Stand by." Hawk replied.  
  
Cover Girl had updated Hawk on how the COBRA/Heartless taskforce had gotten onto the base.  
  
"I knew she was a traitor." Beach Head grumbled.  
  
"Take that back." Bilby said coldly.  
  
"What's the matter Bilby, afraid to face that fact that your girlfriend betrayed us all." Beach Head replied.  
  
"Beach Head, lay off him!" Cover Girl shouted.  
  
"If he can't accept the truth, he shouldn't be here." Beach Head said bluntly.  
  
"I'm warning you fuck head, if you bad mouth Akima one more time I'll make you regret it." Bilby replied in a flash of barely controlled rage.  
  
"Bilby, I'm afraid that based on Cover Girl's report it could be a possibility." Scarlet added.  
  
"Possibility. This poor dumb bastard thinks Akima's a traitor right off the bat." Bilby replied.  
  
"Well look at the evidence, dumb ass," Beach Head groaned, "She provided COBRA a route into the base, gave them vital information, knocked out and restrained Cover Girl...She's a traitor. T-R-A-I-T...." That was as far as Beach Head got before a left handed punch tagged him in the face. Beach Head staggered, surprised, Bilby was right handed so the punch didn't knock Beach Head off his feet. However, Bilby only tagged him with his left hand. His right immediately followed, striking Beach Head full in the mouth. A dark splotch of red appeared where Beach Head's mouth was obscured by his ski mask.  
  
Beach Head recovered and threw Bilby to the top of a table where he started elbowing him in the midsection. Bilby used his legs like a pair of scissors and grappled Beach Head by his skull and threw him to the floor. With a running start, Bilby landed a savage kick into Beach Head's genitals at the same moment Beach Head's devastating kick struck him in the same area.  
  
At this time, Sergeant Slaughter, Leatherneck and Wetsuit all grabbed Beach Head and Roadblock, Gung Ho, and Flint held onto Bilby. Both combatants pulled toward each other.  
  
"He's not worth it! Turn loose soldier!" Flint said.  
  
The authority had its effect, "Yes sir." Bilby replied.  
  
"Throw that sonofabitch into the brig!" Beach Head snapped angrily, "Assaulting a superior officer!"  
  
"Beach Head, shut the hell up!" Hawk said, in a rare display of anger, "Now you instigated Bilby, already in an emotional state because of this incident."  
  
"Yes sir." Beach Head replied.  
  
"You need to work on not being so judgmental, bigoted, and abrasive. These Gamma soldiers are our allies, not our enemies." Hawk replied.  
  
He turned his full fury on Bilby just then, "And you, Mister, should better control your anger. Was it not you that said that hate and rage will destroy a sniper quickest on the battlefield when you trained the Misfits?"  
  
"Yes sir." Bilby replied.  
  
"Well you're not practicing what you preach." Hawk replied. He was about to say something more when the large monitor attached to the communications relay blinked on.  
  
"Sir," Mainframe said, "It's Mindbender."  
  
"Greetings GI Joe. As you have already surmised, a large contingent of COBRA and Heartless troops now own the building you know as the Infirmary. We also have a good number of your personnel as hostages. We wish to speak to Corporal Bilby."  
  
"He's right here." Hawk replied.  
  
"Sir? With all due respect, I'm not a negotiator, I'm a soldier." Bilby replied.  
  
"We may just be able to stall them long enough to mount some sort of rescue operation." Hawk said off camera.  
  
"We wish you to send Bilby alone to the Infirmary." Mindbender replied, "Failure to comply in five minutes means that you must watch Lifeline die."  
  
Blindfolded and handcuffed in the middle of the floor was Lifeline. The camera showed a Heartless with an AK-47 aimed at the back of his head. Hawk knew he had no choice, if only to buy the rescue units that much more time.  
  
"Bilby, you're up." Hawk said.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Quite some time later, Bilby walked into the Infirmary where he was searched for weapons by the COBRA guards. He was then admitted into one of the waiting rooms near the intensive care unit. Doc, Bree, and Lifeline were all trapped in small locked rooms in the mental patient wing.  
  
Bilby felt the blindfold being yanked away from his eyes and what he saw next cause his knees to turn to water and his blood turn to ice. "Akima?"  
  
Akima sat in a wooden chair. Leather straps bound her wrists to the chair and electrodes were attached to her forehead and temples. Bilby turned red with fury and shouted, "Get those straps of her wrists! Get those electrodes off of her head!"  
  
He was struck in the guts by a rifle butt and dropped to one knee, "This can't be real. This is a trick. Akima didn't betray us, you kidnapped her...."  
  
"Maybe we did, and maybe we didn't." Mindbender said.  
  
MajorBludd appeared just then and said, "I do seem to recall chasing you and two of your friends across the desert. You ran us quite a chase."  
  
"What's the matter, angry it took you at least two companies worth of troops to chase us down." Bilby replied.  
  
"I took a major cut in pay because of that whole episode." Major Bludd replied. He casually twisted Akima's earlobe. She screamed in pain as he continued, "So why shouldn't I take it out on your little girl friend?"  
  
"You take your hands of her, or you'll wish you hadn't touched her." Bilby said, glowering.  
  
"You're hardly in the position to make demands." Major Bludd replied.  
  
"Wait Major." Mindbender said, "Let's give Mr. Bilby a demonstration of our good faith. You have ten minutes to determine whether this lovely girl is truly the one you love."  
  
"Fine." Bilby replied, "But this must be under the condition that I can speak to her alone, with complete privacy. I'm not about to make her another exhibit in this human zoo you've created degenerate."  
  
"Very well." Mindbender ordered and left the room with his minions.  
  
As soon as he was gone, Bilby went up to Akima, "Oh my God, are you alright?"  
  
"I think so." Akima replied.  
  
"What do you remember?" Bilby asked.  
  
"Only falling asleep last night and waking up here in the Infirmary under armed guard." Akima replied.  
  
'Time for the question only we would remember.' Bilby thought.  
  
"Do you remember our first kiss?" Bilby asked.  
  
"The time you comforted me about the Resistance's cause." Akima smiled, weakly.  
  
"I'm sorry about that question Akima." Bilby replied, "I only needed proof which they refused to give me."  
  
Akima noticed how Bilby put a special accent on the fuse syllable of refused. "I realize that they do have advanced scientific power. Well I'd better make this brief before they cut us off..."  
  
Bilby again accentuated the word power as well as the words cut off. To Akima it was obvious, Bilby had some kind of plan to come to her rescue.  
  
The COBRA's were back again. "Well Mr. Bilby, are you satisfied?" Mindbender asked.  
  
Bilby had been slowly inching his way to the nearby fuse box just then. He had been calculating this for a while now. Through his two way wire tap, which Dial Tone had expertly concealed, his message had gotten through and the rescue teams were in position. The Joes would storm the front entrances while the Misfits came in through the basement with half the Gamma team and the X-men came through the roof with the other Gammas. They were just waiting for those lights to go out.  
  
He gave them another minute with his next statement, "Suppose you were in love with a queen. And the king being very angry sent you to the arena. And in this arena are two doors. Opening one would lead you to the most lovely young woman you had yet laid eyes upon. Opening the other leads to certain death at the hands of a slathering, ferocious tiger. The queen points towards a door. The question herein lies, do you trust her enough that she won't be consumed with the jealousy of seeing you in the arms of another?"  
  
"What?" Major Bludd demanded.  
  
"You heard me, the lady or the tiger?" Bilby asked, taking the last sideways step in which he shut the power off to every electrical system in the building.  
  
Bilby let his eyes adjust, and grabbed a scalpel from a nearby table. With speed he rammed it into the neck of a COBRA viper as he cut Akima's bonds free and yanked her out of the nearest door and ran through the darkened hospital.  
  
Bilby half pushed Akima into the ventilation ducts, "I'll lead them away from here, and when they've passed by, get out of the building as soon as possible."  
  
"OK." Akima said.  
  
Already a lot of shooting was sounding and Akima felt it wisest to stay where she was. Several pairs of boots sounded as several Heartless and COBRAs chased after Bilby. Akima waited in the vents for a long time before she heard what she wanted to hear. A single pair of boots sounding.  
  
A single COBRA viper walked down the hallway, its eyes adjusting to the emergency lighting. As soon as it was close enough, Akima sprang on him, knocking the Viper's head against the wall. She hijacked the holstered pistol it carried. Briefly she debated shooting him, but shedding blood unnecessarily always made her a little queasy so she handcuffed him to a pipe and took off down the hallway. She had a score to settle with Dr. Mindbender, for messing with her head the way he had been doing when she had been in his captivity.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Bilby cut several electrical and communications wires. This was isolating the COBRAs on various floors, and frustrating their efforts to restore power. He had killed another Heartless with the scalpel and hijacked its rifle and ammunition. Despite being armed he wanted to avoid a firefight if possible. All Gamma unit troops were trained to operate enemy weapons for just this sort of situation.  
  
'The further I lead them from Akima, the better chance she has of surviving.' Bilby thought. He didn't care if he lived or died at this point. Saving Akima was all that mattered to him right now.  
  
He sent a short burst of full auto fire downrange at a trio of Heartless that appeared, two fell instantly, the third dragged himself away, it's lower body shot up. Bilby caught up to it and butt stroked it in the back of the head. Quickly he searched their bodies for ammunition, turning up two more pouches of AKM-47 ammunition and a hand grenade. He grabbed the ammunition and disappeared around a corner when he heard another patrol approaching.  
  
He pulled the pin from the grenade and put it under the body of the nearest Heartless. The patrol stopped when they saw the corpses of three of their brethren lying killed on the floor. One of the soldier Heartless turned the corpse over and got a big surprise in the form of an exploding hand grenade. Bilby fired off several bursts of gunfire into the mob of Heartless and ran pell mell down the staircase.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Stoney turned a corpse over with his MP-5. "Jesus, looks like someone was retreating, shooting them with their own guns."  
  
"Sounds like the kind of sick thing a certain Australian sniper would dream up." Cyclops said, as he checked other corpses.  
  
There was a trail of Heartless corpses leading down the hallway, most killed with one or two shots. "Definitely Bilby's work." Link concluded.  
  
Overhead the rest of the X-men were securing spaces in the roof. Wolverine impaled another Heartless through the chest with his claws as Jean Grey flung another one out of a window with her telekinesis. Jose Hedaya, walking the point, signaled the rest of the team to follow the trail of killed Heartless to try and find Bilby before the enemy did.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Bilby stayed hidden as a patrol of COBRAs, at least twenty of them, way too many to attack with his limited ammunition, crept by. He had crept back to where he had left Akima only to find a knocked out COBRA viper handcuffed to a post.  
  
"Damn." Bilby whispered, "That means Akima could be anywhere."  
  
He decided to follow the tiger tail patrol method. This was a classic Gamma patrol strategy, called the tiger tail because it entailed patrolling around an area where an enemy was suspected to be until you literally bumped into him. 'Except I'm looking for a friendly in this scenario.' Bilby thought.  
  
He peered into Doc's office and something about it looked suspicious. He decided to set up a lay up point across the hall, melding with the shadows until he could get a better look. As a sniper, this was no major difficulty. He was used to lying in wait for long periods of time. At one point he spent nearly forty-eight hours holed up in an abandoned room trying to ferret out a Heartless gunman that was wreaking havoc on the civilians in the city of Peking, China.  
  
He saw a slim figure creeping by in the darkness. 'Akima,' his mind screamed. Bilby fought it down with every bit of learning he had as a sniper. Exposing oneself in a hurry usually meant a sniper had gotten lax and careless and that had been a fatal mistake for many a novice sniper. He stealthily crept down the hall, staying well back behind Akima and waited as she entered a room.  
  
Akima didn't notice Bilby's silent approach, a true testament to his skill as a sniper. Indeed, she had found Dr. Mindbender and chambered the round into the pistol. "Mindbender!" she shouted.  
  
"Ah, Akima." Mindbender said, turning around in a swiveling office chair. His calm smile had mirth but no warmth, it was the smile of a crocodile about to enjoy a meal.  
  
'Damn Akima, don't move.' Bilby said, Akima's constant movement made it hard for him to target Mindbender and this was one shot Martin Bilby definitely did not want to screw up. He pulled the hell tab, an emergency beacon on his wire tap that was connected to every team that was assaulting the COBRA position.  
  
"What did you do to me you bastard?!" Akima demanded, the barrel of the pistol shaking with unsteadiness.  
  
"If you're referring to your recent acts of espionage, the dreams you've been having, waking in cold sweats, and any host of symptoms you can think of I can explain it all." Mindbender said, calmly, "And my dear, please lose the gun, I know you won't shoot me."  
  
"But I will Mindbender." Bilby replied, "If you don't reverse whatever damage you've done."  
  
"I'm afraid it's not that simple. 'Akima' is not who she appears to be." Mindbender said.  
  
Akima was close to tears at that moment, "No more tricks Mindbender? What have you done to me!"  
  
"Don't worry my dear, this is a classic reaction to my subliminal conditioning." Mindbender replied.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Bilby demanded, weapon aimed squarely at Mindbender's brain.  
  
"You're starting to remember now, in brief snatches. The implanted memories, the voice conditioning, the teaching of how to properly imitate this woman." Mindbender began.  
  
"You're lying!" Akima shouted through clenched teeth, "You're lying!"  
  
"Another classic reaction. You don't know who you truly are my dear, do you." Mindbender continued.  
  
"You better shut up before I put a round right into your big mouth!" Bilby replied coldly.  
  
"Don't you know." Mindbender said, grinning like a Cheshire Cat, "The woman known as Akima Kunimoto was killed on what you remember as the Titan mission."  
  
"Do you really think that's gonna work, Mindbender, she's standing right here." Bilby replied, with a contemptuous laugh.  
  
"Bite your tongue, Australian, for whether this woman is who you claim she is or not, is irrelevant, for if I do not reverse my procedures, she will gradually sink into an irreversible insanity followed by a catatonic and comatose state." Mindbender replied.  
  
"You monster!" Akima demanded, "What did you do to me!"  
  
"You see, your entire identity, your memories, everything that you know now is all an illusion. The real Akima Kunimoto was executed before the eyes of Corporal Martin Bilby in cold blood one year ago." Mindbender said, "You see my dear, we needed a way to break into the Gamma Unit and GI Joe alliance. We found a young nineteen year old university student built similarly to Akima, we surgically altered her appearance and implanted her with your memories."  
  
Mindbender held up a CD, "On this CD are the memories of one Sally O'Connor. If I do not restore her memories into you, the circumstances I mentioned previously will occur."  
  
Just then the X-men, Misfits, and GI Joe together with Bilby's team mates broke in. "So in conclusion, you are not Akima Kunimoto."  
  
"Akima?" Bilby asked.  
  
"Get away from me!" Akima shouted, leveling the weapon at Bilby.  
  
"Do you really want to harm me?" Bilby asked.  
  
Akima wavered as Bilby walked closer to her. Her legs felt frozen in place as she fell, sobbing into his arms. Mindbender inserted a tape into a nearby VCR, "Evidence that I am not lying."  
  
The tape showed a young woman about to be anesthetized for surgery. The proceeding footage showed more of her conditioning right up to the point where the Gamma team rescued who they thought was Akima.  
  
"Sally O'Connor, Aeronautical Engineering major at the University of Southern California. Nineteen years old, from a stable family home." Mindbender mocked.  
  
"I wish I could remember." Akima said, vulnerable as anything as Mindbender was lead away.  
  
Bilby held her, the ferocious warrior within now restrained and the gentle soul that was Martin Bilby emerged again. "We'll take care of you. We'll sort this out in the morning, but in the mean time, get some rest. You'll need it."  
  
Akima lay in a bed in the Infirmary, once more in the hands of GI Joe. "Martin?" she asked as he walked out of the room, "Could you stay with me tonight. I can't fall asleep."  
  
Martin smiled sadly, he knew for certain now that his beloved Akima was dead and that this woman, Sally O'Connor, deserved to return to her family and her old life. Dial Tone ran a check and confirmed that Sally had been missing for nearly three months, the last month and a half of which she spent with Bilby and his team mates. "I'll stay." Bilby said, gripping her hand, "We'll sort all of this out in the morning..."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Next some deep angst, a promotion ceremony, and another prophesy. 


	22. Of Angst and Promotion

Of Angst and Promotion  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before. Sally O'Connor is a character of my own creation. Raelina, I have read that Hardy Boys book before. It's what inspired these last few chapters.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Sally O'Connor awoke slowly to a brightly lit room in primarily white tones. A hospital, she figured immediately. She sat up in bed and saw a blonde woman in a nurse's uniform walking her way. Her nametag read Bree.  
  
"How long was I out?" Sally asked.  
  
"Almost a week." Bree replied.  
  
"Where am I?" Sally asked.  
  
"You're in an Army hospital. You were kidnapped and left out in the desert for dead. A patrol found you and brought you here. We've informed your parents in Pasadena as to where you are and you'll be home in a few hours." Bree replied.  
  
"I remember being shoved into a van when I was walking back to the campus from the bus stop, but everything after that's a blank." Sally replied.  
  
"You'll remember it eventually," Bree replied, "Trust me, it's better you not remember right now. You're still recovering from your ordeal."  
  
Sally blinked a couple of times. She had a vague feeling she had been in this hospital before. 'Well duh, you've been here for a week. You probably barely conscious when you came in here.' Sally thought. Her heart skipped a beat when she a lean muscled young man with a working man's tan, a grown in shaved head with a sad countenance walking in. It was almost as if she could see though his tough guy façade to see the man hurting underneath though she was a hundred percent certain she had never seen the soldier before in her entire life.  
  
"Oh, that's Sergeant Bilby, his unit found you in the desert and he's been checking on you ever since." Bree replied.  
  
"Thank you sergeant." Sally said.  
  
"You're welcome." Bilby said, with a sad smile.  
  
"Forgive him for being so grim, someone close to him just passed away." Bree replied. This wasn't really a lie, this was the truth pushed and twisted in such a manner as to give Sally something to explain a three- month gap in her memory.  
  
Bilby's rank was no lie either, he had been promoted to Sergeant for his efforts in the negating COBRA's takeover of the GI Joe Infirmary. However, as good as such a promotion would normally feel, it still felt like the entire left side of his body had been shot away, yet he still lived in great pain. "Bree, I just came to let Sally know that her parents are on their way up." Bilby said.  
  
Sally stared at the Australian soldier a little longer. It was as if she had known him, very intimately, but she couldn't be sure how. Maybe it was one of those cases where you think you know somebody just by looking at them. At any rate, looking at the Australian was giving her the biggest feeling of déjà vu she ever had felt.  
  
"How far away are they?" she asked.  
  
"About fifteen minutes." Bilby replied.  
  
"There's some clothing for you in the bathroom, just throw that on and get ready to go." Bree replied.  
  
Fifteen minutes later, Sally O'Connor experienced a tearful reunion with her family. Even her kitten, Yuffie, nuzzled her eagerly. Through tears of happiness, she waved goodbye to her rescuers yet again, wishing that she could do something more to help Sergeant Bilby.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
After driving back to the house, Bilby picked up his rifle and web gear and put his peaked field cap and walked out into the wilds for some perimeter patrol. He felt happy that he had been able to give an innocent young woman her life back. Yet he felt like a mailed fist was crushing his heart, as he was remembering Akima. Maybe that was the sacrifice that the old man in the prophesy had been talking about. One component of the prophesy had come true already. Akima discovered who she truly was. No that wasn't Akima, that was Sally O'Connor, surgically altered and mentally conditioned to appear as though she was Akima. That month and a half since he rescued her had without a doubt been the best weeks of his entire life in recent memory.  
  
Too bad that those weeks were taken away from him just as quickly. He knew that Akima was really and truly dead. He felt hollowed out and too exhausted to cry. All that he felt was a burning need for revenge and he had an insane thought that he wished the Heartless would show their ugly faces around here. He'd gladly kill as many of them as possible, if only to avenge the feelings of pain within him.  
  
'What's the matter, you're hurt because you did a good deed?' Bilby thought, 'No. I'm hurt because I've lost Akima forever.'  
  
As much as he knew that it couldn't last forever, at least the brief time he had with whom he believed was Akima was like a soothing balm, an island of comfort in a sea of angst and pain.  
  
"It's tough to go it alone isn't it?" said a voice.  
  
Bilby recognized the voice as his sniper team leader, Jose Hedaya. He was chagrined that someone had snuck up on him, thus showing him his situational awareness wasn't what it should be.  
  
"I figured you'd go onto one of your long 'wilderness training exercises'." Hedaya said.  
  
"Yeah, I guess there's a lot on my mind." Bilby replied.  
  
"Let me guess, Akima." Hedaya replied.  
  
Bilby nodded, sadly, as Hedaya continued, "Yeah, the reason why most of the Troop kept their distance from you is the fact that you pushed them away, you wouldn't let them see what was hurting you."  
  
"If I let them see what was hurting me, I'd be facing the gallows in a heartbeat." Bilby replied.  
  
"True. But now you've got all of us to help you through this grief with no trial or execution necessary." Hedaya replied, "Hey, don't we have a promotion ceremony to get to in an hour?"  
  
"We do mate." Bilby replied.  
  
"Well as your superior I order you to get your butt back to the base, clean up, and head off to the Enlisted Club." Hedaya replied.  
  
With a small, wry grin that broke through the sadness Bilby said, "Roger that Staff Sergeant Hedaya. Congratulations on your promotion, Jose."  
  
"Gracias amigo." Hedaya replied, tipping his floppy desert hat in a mock bow.  
  
"Race you back to the pit." Bilby said.  
  
"You're loco Bilby, you know I always beat you on the bergen runs." Hedaya replied, referring to the full gear runs that were a fact of life for Gamma unit soldiers.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"What is up with you guys!?" Lance demanded, "I meditate for hours, I train way more than I've ever trained in my entire life, and then I go through it all again. I can handle that. But what I can't handle is that my friends were on a mission without me. Even the X-Geeks were on a mission and I wasn't there to help them."  
  
"Lance." Donald began, "Understand this. You have to be trained, you have to be focused in order to wield the Keyblade. You are pure of heart, but you are still extremely vulnerable to temptation. That vision of Kitty was the dark side probing your weaknesses."  
  
"Your enemies are strong Lance." Stormshadow warned, "My clan has records of these Heartless creatures dating back generations. Around the time of Donald and Goofy's Ansem's report."  
  
"They know how you care for Kitty and will explode that weakness." Goofy warned.  
  
"Exploit, Goofy, exploit that weakness." Donald corrected.  
  
"You must mediate again Lance. Find your center and calm yourself." Spirit added.  
  
"If you find it difficult to meditate, try that form I taught you a couple weeks ago." Stormshadow replied.  
  
"We will leave you be for now." Spirit said, "But you need to calm and focus yourself the trials ahead of you are formidable indeed."  
  
"I'll get through it." Lance said grimly, "For Kitty's sake if anything else."  
  
The others left Lance to his privacy in an adjacent room in the dojo. Lance tried to sit still and meditate, but to no avail. All he could feel were feelings of urgency, since that vision of Kitty being tormented by Maleficent. He figured he might as well try that Tai Chi Chuan workout that Stormshadow had taught him, if for nothing else, improving his concentration and martial arts ability.  
  
It was hot in the dojo, for some reason, the AC was out of whack. Lance stripped off his black t-shirt, wearing only a pair of gray sweat pants and athletic tape around his hands and wrists.  
  
He moved slowly, rhythmically, like Stormshadow had taught him. He moved with a supple, almost feline like grace. His hands traveled into position smoothly and with deceptively languid movement but they arrived much faster than they appeared. He was so intent on his practiced movement that he didn't notice he had a visitor.  
  
Kitty Pryde, after having awakened and had breakfast, followed Xi to the dojo. She phased through the wall, and saw Lance training. There were faded lines of old scars from childhood and his time under Magneto's thumb that crisscrossed his body, which was more fit and muscular than she remembered. Lance moved with such grace, and skill, that it was dazzling. She soon didn't realize she had gotten too close, until Lance quarter turned toward her and she barely ducked to avoid being hit. She didn't avoid a collision with Lance though.  
  
"Kitty?" Lance said, both surprised and pleased to see her standing before him, "What are you doing here?"  
  
"I came to see you Lance." Kitty said, "The others are talking a lot about you being the wielder of the Keyblade and they all can't believe it. But to me, the Keyblade knows something about you that I've known all along. That there's more to you than what they see..."  
  
"I knew that it would be a real tough crow for Mister and Missus Popularity-Uptight to swallow." Lance replied, referring to Scott and Jean.  
  
"Will you be at the promotion ceremony tonight?" Kitty asked.  
  
"Yeah. They decided to let me have the night off. Of all people I know Bilby deserved the promotion." Lance replied.  
  
"Also that other guy, Hedaya's getting promoted and get this, Cover Girl got promoted too."  
  
"Geez, I knew her paperwork to advance to sergeant was in the works but I didn't think she'd get it that fast." Lance replied.  
  
"That's all the news Xi wanted me to tell you." Kitty said, before giving Lance a small peck on the cheek as she phased back through the dojo wall before Stormshadow and the others came back in.  
  
Spirit smiled a knowing grin, he planned to let Lance feel like he got one over on him and the others, though they knew that this wasn't the case. He also knew that his fragile relationship with Kitty was what kept him strong. He prayed to the Great Spirit that Kitty wouldn't fail Lance at this, his hour of need.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Sergeant Jose Hedaya, in recognition with your work with Charlie Squadron, 2 Troop as a sniper team leader it is my pleasure as your senior officer to promote you to Staff Sergeant. Stand and be recognized." Fetterman stated.  
  
Jose Hedaya stood up from the chair and shook hands with Captain Fetterman. Like everyone else, he was wearing the Type A uniform, a short sleeved green shirt with darker green pants. Bilby wore the same uniform, as did Cover Girl, though she wore a skirt and heels with hers. David Falk put the rank devices onto Hedaya's uniform.  
  
"Corporal Martin Bilby. In recognition for your consistent acts of bravery during this mission, Kilo Two Zero, it is my pleasure to promote you to sergeant." Fetterman replied.  
  
Hawk took the podium after Bilby shook hands with Fetterman and received his sergeant chevrons, "Corporal Courtney Krieger, step forward. As of this date, 4 June 2003, you now carry the rank of sergeant."  
  
"Staff Sergeant Hedaya and Sergeants Bilby and Krieger, stand and be recognized." Roadblock called out.  
  
To the applause of their teammates the three stepped forward to be recognized. The affair began to become a party with dancing and music. Bilby walked out onto the balcony for some fresh air and a quart of Imperial Scotch.  
  
He gulped down a shot, feeling it burn all the way down as he peered out into the night. "Not your beverage I see."  
  
Bilby turned to see Cover Girl standing behind him. "Look, Courtney, if you don't mind, I'd like to be left alone for a while."  
  
"Akima." Cover Girl said, knowingly, putting a comforting arm around Bilby's shoulders.  
  
"Yeah. Part of me is glad to know that Sally's back home and safe where she belongs. The other part of me feels the same way I felt when I first lost Akima, only ten times worse. You know, I really and truly wanted to believe that I had found her again." Bilby replied.  
  
"You seemed happier when you did." Cover Girl asked, "I know its hard on you, but you've got a big advantage this time, you don't have to go it solo. Come back inside and enjoy the festivities. That's an order."  
  
"Excuse me, Sergeant Krieger, you're getting a little out of line." Bilby smiled, "I outrank you."  
  
"What?" Cover Girl replied with mock offense.  
  
"Oh that's easy. I was promoted earlier than you were." Bilby replied.  
  
"By about five minutes." Cover Girl protested.  
  
"That's still enough time. I'll be back in there in a few, I just need to work that last Imperial shot out of my system." Bilby replied.  
  
"I'll see you inside." Cover Girl replied, "And on the dance floor."  
  
"I don't dance." Bilby replied.  
  
"I do recall more than a few instances when Akima was around where you cut quite a rug. Remember Stalker's anniversary party." Cover Girl replied as she walked back inside.  
  
"The guardian must be strong." Came a voice that wasn't Cover Girl's.  
  
Bilby spun around to see the hooded old man again, "If the Keyblade is to manifest itself, the guardian must be stalwart and strong."  
  
"I've already made my sacrifice you bastard! What more do you want of me! Stop speaking in these damnable riddles!" Bilby snapped, partially because of the alcohol and partially due to the grief.  
  
"You will know when the time comes." The old man replied cryptically, disappearing as swiftly as he appeared.  
  
Bilby walked inside and as he did, Cover Girl snared him and they stepped out onto the dance floor. As they did, Cover Girl felt a pang of guilt. She saw Shipwreck hitting on Ororo, but he wasn't doing it with the great gusto that he had usually displayed when going after her.  
  
As the song progressed, Cover Girl felt more guilt which grew worse after Bilby escorted her back to where he she had taken him to the dance floor on. "Go get him." Bilby grinned.  
  
Cover Girl grinned back, 'Damn you Akima, you were right.' She thought as she strode toward Shipwreck, who was bottling up the bar just then. "May I have this dance?" she asked.  
  
Shipwreck smiled and said, "Sure."  
  
"Are you OK?" Cover Girl asked.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine, never happier." Shipwreck replied, as they walked out onto the dance floor.  
  
"You're not jealous are you?" Cover Girl asked.  
  
"Yeah, kinda." Shipwreck confessed.  
  
"Well there's nothing to worry about. Even if I was interested in Bilby that way, there's no way I could get him to give up his loyalty to Akima." Cover Girl replied.  
  
"Also, I was upset because tonight's the two year anniversary of the night Mara left the family." Shipwreck replied, "Not even so much as a kiss goodbye for her husband and her own children."  
  
It was then that Courtney Krieger saw the side of Hector Delgato that he rarely let be known. The part of him that had been abandoned by someone he loved with all of his heart. She resolved that whatever happened, she wasn't going to do that to him.  
  
"Oh my God." Cover Girl said.  
  
"What is it?" Shipwreck asked, then he saw it too and grinned, "Son of a gun. It's finally happened."  
  
At a cluster of tables sat the Misfits and the X-men with Goofy talking to both sides. "They're sitting in close proximity without one single explosion." Shipwreck remarked, "It's amazing."  
  
Stith and Gune danced by them just then, the taller Stith having to crouch even lower on her kangaroo like legs to compensate for Gune's short stature. Lance and Kitty danced by them as well, with Kitty and Lance both giving them a wave and a thumbs up. The same came from Toad and Althea.  
  
It was the perfect kissable moment. The lighting was right, the music was soft yet somewhat upbeat, a nice rendition of In the Still of the Night by the Five Satins. It was until a certain feathered menace decided to make himself known.  
  
"Awk! Shipwreck and Cover Girl sitting in a tree! hic!" Polly flapped about erratically as he sang through the air with an equally plastered Lockheed in tow.  
  
"Polly! Get back here!" Shipwreck shouted, chasing the bird with a fire extinguisher. He sprayed a couple of times, accidentally spraying Gung Ho, Jinx and Logan with the extinguisher.  
  
"Oops!" Shipwreck shouted.  
  
"SHIPWRECK!!!!" came the shout as they chased him through the club.  
  
"Come back here feather head! Waiter! Come quick! There's a slight menu change on the way! Stuffed Parrot O'Grotton!" Shipwreck shouted.  
  
"No matter how much things change." Cover Girl mused, "Things stay the same."  
  
"Wanker." Bilby groaned, "I knew I shouldn't have left ¾ of an Imperial quart of Scotch unattended."  
  
"Thanks Bilby." Cover Girl said, smiling, "Well I've gotta save Shipwreck from the wrath of a Marine, a ninja and a psychotic mutant."  
  
"I'll help." Bilby replied.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
I'll get more into the X-men perspective later, I promise. I just decided to write a somewhat angsty chapter and finish it off with a little bit of humor before I go into a fit of depression writing this. (End of rant). I'm a big Shipwreck/Cover Girl shipper, so I chose to put them together. 


	23. XPected Frustrations

X-pected Frustrations  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"How are you feeling sleepy head?" Cover Girl asked Bilby, when he finally woke up.  
  
"Like a bloody tank rolled over me." Bilby replied, clutching his head.  
  
"I told you maybe Imperial Scotch wasn't your brew." Cover Girl replied.  
  
"How's Shipwreck?" Bilby asked.  
  
"I put him to bed last night at little after midnight." Cover Girl sighed, "No, nothing like that. I just meant he was extremely intoxicated. Typical Shipwreck."  
  
"Things are certainly going to be very different around here." Bilby replied.  
  
"Funny, if it hadn't been for Akima I wouldn't have...." Cover Girl stopped short when she saw Bilby's downcast eyes, "It still hurts, doesn't it? I'm sorry Martin, but pain like that isn't going to go away overnight."  
  
"I know." Bilby said, "The damndest thing is I know. I've lived with this sort of agony since the Heartless destroyed my hometown of Sapphire Bay."  
  
"Time heals all wounds." Cover Girl replied.  
  
"I know that." Bilby replied.  
  
"Barney! No! Don't eat those worms!" Cover Girl shouted, when she saw Barney digging with his beak in a mud puddle on Shipwreck's back yard.  
  
"Bagga?" Barney said.  
  
"Ouch! Remind me to kill Shipwreck for giving his kid a whiffle bat." Cover Girl replied.  
  
"Already having domestic disputes. You're not even married yet." Bilby replied, amused.  
  
"That's it Aussie, no Aspirin for you." Cover Girl replied.  
  
"How cruel." Bilby replied, "I see Shipwreck's alcohol consumption is going to drop sharply in this relationship..."  
  
"Don't even get me started there." Cover Girl replied, depositing the babies in their playpen.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
The X-men were clustered around the large dining room table picking at their food while the Misfits were enthusiastically devouring their meal. "Hi Cover Girl, what's with all the aspirin?" Wanda asked.  
  
"Oh that's for our Gamma guests deciding to get trashed last night." Cover Girl said.  
  
"Hey!" Bilby shouted from the back porch, "You can only punish me over that stupid comment, that's no reason to punish the entire eight of us! I am totally not responsible for those eight bourbon chasers Morgan drank."  
  
"He's not responsible half that tequila bottle that Stoney put down his neck, or those three rum and cokes with the little paper umbrellas that Sergeant Rumpler put down, or those fourteen screwdrivers that Link put down...." Pietro said.  
  
"Are you keeping track of this Pietro?" Wanda asked.  
  
"You should know, you was serving them..." Xi replied to Pietro.  
  
"XI!!!" Pietro shouted.  
  
"Thank you Xi. Pietro, that means you have KP for an entire week. Same to you Xi for snitching on your friend." Cover Girl replied.  
  
"Nyah!" Pietro said, sticking out his tongue.  
  
"Why am I being punished? Pietro served all those drinks." Xi replied.  
  
"Maybe it's because you were being a tattle tale." Rogue replied.  
  
"Hey Skunk Headed half sister, no one reprimands Xi but us!" Wanda replied.  
  
"You're one to talk you....you Blair Witch wannabe." Rogue shot back.  
  
"Look who's talking Count Dracula's Ex-Wife!" Wanda replied.  
  
Cover Girl rolled her eyes saying, "I can see the hangovers in this household are gonna be real bad when those guys wake up."  
  
"That's about the usual fare for those guys on a lot of Saturday nights." Fetterman remarked, walking down the staircase in a pair of jogging pants and a faded gray Army t-shirt. "Thanks for the warning." Cover Girl replied, "I still remember when they tried to match drinks with Shipwreck last week. I never thought that a little guy like Morgan could throw up that much."  
  
"Well that's what you get when you try to match drinks with an alcoholic like Shipwreck." Ororo remarked, walking back inside from a brief jog out around the base.  
  
"Hey!" Cover Girl snapped, "No one insults my boyfriend except me!"  
  
"Boyfriend?" Ororo blinked, "Shipwreck?"  
  
"Yes. Since last night." Cover Girl replied, "Why, are you jealous?"  
  
"Sir," Roadblock said to Fetterman, "It's best you get out of the way. Because blood looks about to spray."  
  
"Wise choice." Fetterman replied.  
  
"Jealous? You can HAVE him." Ororo replied.  
  
Cover Girl fumed, "He does deserve a lot better treatment than you've ever given him!"  
  
"You're one to talk!" Ororo replied, "You hadn't exactly been brushing Shipwreck off very gently yourself."  
  
"At least I didn't electrify him at every chance!" Cover Girl snapped back.  
  
"What about the times you wailed on him?" Ororo replied, "And if you had my powers you'd do the same to that scumbag."  
  
"Watch your tongue Ororo." Cover Girl warned.  
  
Just then the most bizarre sight imaginable made itself known. Stoney and Morgan came running downstairs with towels tied around their necks. Morgan wore a cheap Mardi Gras mask on his face where Stoney wore a pair of polarized sunglasses and his trademark and loud tie dyed headband. "Ta na na na na na na Batman!!!!!!" they shouted as they slid down the banisters, reeking of tequila.  
  
"Holy Cinco de Mayo Batman, the African Weather Witch is about to fry the Runway Model!" Morgan shouted.  
  
"Don't worry Robin, we shall save her!" Stoney replied.  
  
"Ta na na na na na na! Ta na na na na na na! Batman!!!!" They shouted and started punching their way through a swath of imaginary enemies.  
  
"What on Earth?" Cover Girl said, forgetting her anger and laughing, "Oh no, you guys must've taken home a bottle or two of tequila."  
  
"Some people just can't hold their alcohol." Blob remarked.  
  
"Who do you think you are?" Ororo asked.  
  
"Ta na na na na na na na na! Batman!!!!" Stoney shouted, jumping up and down and flapping his cape up and down.  
  
"This is one of their more amusing skits." Fetterman remarked, "They usually don't cause THAT much trouble, but it's entertaining to watch who they'll become when they've had a few too many drinks."  
  
"Holy African Temptresses Batman, the Weather Witch appears to be getting angry." Morgan remarked.  
  
"You're damn right, the 'Weather Witch' is angry at the two of you acting like clowns." Ororo snapped.  
  
"Holy Flowing Estrogen Batman, what shall we do?" Morgan replied.  
  
"Don't make any sudden movements Robin! The angry Weather Goddess is known to charge at random." Stoney replied.  
  
"Fascinating." Gune said, running down the stairs, "These two appear to be intoxicated. Ha ha."  
  
Cover Girl, Roadblock, and Fetterman regarded the strange little green alien for a moment. "Brilliant Einstein." Roadblock said, "What was the first sign?"  
  
"Holy Martian Marshmallows Batman, it's an alien!" Morgan said.  
  
"It seems friendly, though fairly eccentric Robin. Let us return to the task at hand!" Stoney replied.  
  
"Bilby!" Roadblock shouted.  
  
"Oh no mate! You're not pinning THIS on me! Like I said, there's no way I could know they'd consume this much alcohol!" Bilby replied.  
  
The Misfits all crowded around the catfight about to occur, as did the younger X-men. Multiple jumped up and down. "C'mon guys! Let me watch this! C'mon I'm two feet shorter than everyone else!"  
  
"Holy Saharan Dustbunnies Batman, she's becoming very angry!" Morgan remarked.  
  
"Zounds!" Stoney shouted when he and Morgan were hit by lightning, "She is hitting us with her vile electrical discharges! She must be one of the Joker's henchmen!"  
  
"Holy Electrical Storms Batman! We must stop the nefarious fiend's evil hench woman before she fries all the hostages!" Morgan shouted.  
  
"Agreed Robin! CHARGE!" Stoney shouted.  
  
While the three were busy fighting Ororo Polly flapped downstairs, "Awk! Stop in the name of love! Hic! Before you break my heart! Hic!"  
  
"Well, some things about this house never change!" Cover Girl remarked when she noticed what was in Polly's beak.  
  
"Give that back!" she shouted and Polly dropped it onto Scott Summers' head. He immediately found himself knocked down by an angry Cover Girl.  
  
Cover Girl picked up the bra and said, "Oops, this isn't mine. Sorry Scott,"  
  
Scott replied in a funny voice, "Wait for me Batman! I'll help you stop the evil African Weather Witch!"  
  
"I believe this is yours." Cover Girl said and handed the bra to Jean, who turned red with embarrassment.  
  
"I can't believe that the Keyblade chose one of those maniacs to wield it." Jean replied.  
  
"Yeah. How are they more pure of heart than us." Rogue replied.  
  
"Especially that the blade chose LANCE as its wielder." Peter replied, "How is he so pure of heart!"  
  
"Yeah, he isn't Mr. Squeaky Clean himself." Scott added, the effect of getting punched out had worn off, somewhat.  
  
"Yeah, I can't believe the fate of worlds rests in the hands of a hoodlum like Lance." Rogue added.  
  
"Guys, he's so much more than that." Kitty added, but in all the volley of criticism no one heard her.  
  
"I don't see what that blade saw in Alvers to chose him as its master. I think Alvers will choke under the pressure." Scott replied.  
  
"WILL YOU IDIOTS STOP BEING SO DAMN JUDGEMENTAL!" Kitty shouted, in an uncharacteristic fury, "Listen to you guys, always quick to blame him for everything that went wrong. Even when he tried to join us, you guys just pushed him away! No wonder the Misfits don't like us! I'm not going to sit here while you guys go attack him behind his back! At least say all this SHIT to his face!"  
  
Kitty was on the verge of tears when she stormed out of the house, but not before punching Scott solidly in the jaw. She was so distraught that she didn't hear Xavier, Hank, and Logan talking, at least not at first.  
  
"Perhaps we were wrong to discourage Lance's joining the X-men when he came to us." Xavier said.  
  
"Face it Charles, we're not exactly the place he wants to be at right now. After he was blamed for everything that happened the last time. If it wasn't for half-pint he wouldn't go anywhere near us except to bug us." Logan replied.  
  
"Alvers already bugs us Logan." Hank replied.  
  
"Perhaps if we nurture Kitty's relationship with Lance we can recruit him into our ranks." Xavier said. He then heard a pair of footsteps running away.  
  
"Kitty, wait!" Xavier shouted.  
  
"Let her cool down for a bit Charles. We've got our hands full." Logan said, jerking his thumb towards Stoney and Morgan, running around the yard with Ororo tied up and gagged.  
  
"Commissioner Gordon." Stoney shouted, throwing Ororo at Xavier's feet, "We have captured the evil African Weather Witch!"  
  
"We must be off Commissioner!" Morgan shouted.  
  
"The Batmobile's ready Robin, let's go!" Stoney shouted.  
  
As Hank untied Ororo Morgan said, "Holy Gorilla Manure Batman, the Commissioner is in league with the Weather Witch!"  
  
"Let's get them!" Stoney shouted, "Ta na na na na na na na na na na na Batman!!!!!"  
  
"Blimey." Bilby complained from a lawn chair, "Can't a man have a hangover in peace around here!?"  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
L1701E, I promise I'll put Paul and Craig in shortly. All of you, thanks for your support, I really appreciate it. I'll get back into the plot in a short order, with the conspiracy beginning in Los Angeles. 


	24. Liberate Tutemae Ex Inferis

Liberate Tutemae Ex Inferis  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before. RogueFanKC, as you no doubt can tell I 'm a Shipwreck/Cover Girl romance shipper.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
The antennae protruding through his skull felt like sharpened steel spikes pushing their way from his head outward. They were growing, ever longer. Even though some procedures developed by the GI Joe medical staff had reversed the outward appearance of transformation, once he was out of the stasis bath he was transforming yet again. Thanks to a raid by Firefly a few days ago, he was finally free, but again, he felt his heart compressing.  
  
Dr. Mindbender again jumped into the bubbling green fluid that had the consistency of congealed pea soup. The formula and apparatus, of his own design, was copied by GI Joe some time earlier, whilst he was their prisoner. It irked him that they had some elements of his design, but he had to save his life before he would turn into a Heartless.  
  
For some reason, Maleficent and the Heartless allowed him to pursue the creation of his life prolonging apparatus, perhaps as a sadistic form of torture before the inevitable transformation did occur. But he wasn't intending that to happen. He would find the cure and return to his natural self.  
  
The immersion time was over, as the green fluid started to turn a murky brown. He staggered, weakened from the pool. Like the chemotherapy cure from which it was derived, Mindbender's treatment would often leave him ill and weak for increasingly longer hours on end.  
  
The antennae were gone, recessed back into his head, the clawed hands weren't as obvious as they had been. He clenched his teeth as a Crimson Guard technician injected an IV into his carotid artery, pumping more of the life prolonging green sludge into his body. He doubled over from the initial burst of agony that such a chemical concoction brought about. Then he clenched his teeth yet again as the adrenaline/endorphin mixture hit his bloodstream, released fifteen seconds directly into the remnant of his heart. The feeling of savage elation, which felt akin to a heroin high coursed through him again, giving him the strength needed to perform more of his much needed research.  
  
Maleficent watched, through a portal atop a table in a mysterious chamber in her castle, as Mindbender carried out his pathetic attempts to delay the consumption of his very being by the Heartless.  
  
"Fool." Maleficent said, "The Heartless transformation cannot be cured. It is irreversible. You are merely delaying the inevitable. See, you are dying. As the Heartless see you as ripe for consumption. Your nefarious deeds, including the abduction, conditioning, and forced infiltration of GI Joe by Sally O'Connor make you the prime candidate."  
  
Mindbender was unaware his efforts were being watched as he raced against time to create a cure before again he was too weak to fight the transformation that was gripping his very being like a cancer, eating him from the inside out. He would not survive without the drugs and chemicals he had created. Chemicals, machines, medical instruments, the very things that put him in a very high position within COBRA and were his pride and passion were now the only things keeping him alive. The next step would be to insert a more powerful variant that was based off of current pacemaker technology into his chest. His heart was already feeling weaker, as if it were collapsing in on itself. A chest X-ray revealed a bony crust forming around the area where his heart had once been.  
  
As he headed to the throne room to announce his presence to Cobra Commander he looked in the mirror. The gaunt and ashen visage before him was horrific. His body was paler, almost emaciated from the ordeal, his muscles having atrophied from constant immersions and stasis. His cape did not conceal that part of his decay. The black mustache he had was graying, from the stress of his own treatment rather than natural aging, the chemical filled harness that was strapped to his back was tastefully explained away by a pair of ornate straps crossing his chest with the COBRA insignia in the center. The high collar of his cape concealed the IV in his neck running to the chemical bags. His forehead was covered with ridges of scar tissue from the repeated entry and recession of the antennae that were growing. Death would be a release next to the travesty that this transformation forced upon his unwilling form.  
  
The vipers around him did not comment on his appearance, they knew better than to insult high-ranking COBRA officials. But the Heartless drones were truly unnerving. Whenever he was anywhere outside of his lab he had at least three Crimson Guard escorts on him at all times, plus he also requested more reinforcements at his security detail. Even when he slept he could feel their presence, the creatures hovering like jackals on the periphery of his space, waiting for Mindbender to weaken to a point where he had exhausted every possible alternative.  
  
He could see glowing pairs of eyes appraising his decay when he took his last chemical immersion. There was no way he would succumb to their designs. Genetically altering the devolution spores developed in Cobra La in Serpentor's mad scheme to devolve the entire human race showed some promise. But he damn near wept with frustration when his technicians told him it would take two years on research alone before a cure for his condition could possible even reach its experimental phases. Each day he felt himself growing weaker and weaker, his heart collapsing deeper in on itself, the physical changes already starting to occur. A school child could easily figure out Mindbender's ghastly fate. He would be lucky to remain in human form for six months to a year at the maximum. The transformation was extremely painful, but for the three vipers he had seen consumed before his own transformation took hold, it was relatively swift. The Gamma operators had been most merciful in executing them, to prevent the spread of the Heartless. If only he had allowed them to kill him instead of begging for his life, this entire ordeal would have not occurred. If only he had not been spared and one of those operators let him die. Another sharp stab of pain triggered the release of the highly concentrated narcotic solution, in another IV connected to his forearm and concealed by a large gauntlet running up to his elbow. Mindbender hadn't been a particularly vain individual, but he was starting to develop an unhealthy, sickness ravaged visage.  
  
Again the pain tore into him, sending him too his knees. The Crimson Guards helped him to his feet. And he could in the distance see the Heartless hovering about him like jackals hovering over a corpse. They were just waiting, no expression on the blank darkness where their faces should have been. Their antennae twitched with anticipation and their eyes glowed.  
  
"Liberate Tutemae Ex Inferis." Mindbender groaned. He would spend the rest of the day like every other, sealed in his personal chambers under heavy guard, listening to orders and meetings via the video data link near his sick bed.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Bilby lay on his back in a lawn chair out back, it was night time now and he really didn't feel like taking part in the socializing and chaos at dinner time. Practically every night this week another star blinked and disappeared. The Heartless were consuming worlds again. He found it hard to find any hope, ever since Mindbender's sick experiment had dashed any he might have had against the rocks.  
  
For a blissful month and a half he thought he had found her again. Then with much more agony than the last time, Akima was ripped away from his arms yet again. The damndest thing was that she wasn't really Akima, because she was some poor college girl Mindbender kidnapped, surgically altered with beyond state of the art plastic surgery, and hypnotically and mentally conditioned to appear to be a 31st Century woman from the Titan Universe named Akima.  
  
He knew with absolute certainty now that Akima was really and truly dead. He took a small, cloth bound journal from a small day bag he always toted around. With a pen he started to write down his feelings, dictating to himself, "This story is about a forbidden love. The woman I love is..."  
  
Bilby stared at the starlit night for a brief time, before hanging his head and just saying it, "Dead. And with her death, my hope has gone. My insides feel dead, and it is only a matter of time before the rest of me catches up."  
  
"You've got the rest of us to help you through this." Said a very familiar Hispanic voice.  
  
"Yeah. I guess that's what is making this a tad easier. But to compensate I actually didn't have to sneak around with her the last time." Bilby replied, "I could actually walk across the lawn holding hands with her and I wouldn't have any official protests. I could actually openly be affectionate with her without worrying about a hearing after the mission ended. I was thinking of leaving the unit and go free lance with her against the Heartless, just Akima and I, with Gune and Stith aboard the Valkyrie. You know my contract expires in about six months before I decided to reenlist. Then I lose her again, but the most painful part of it was I wish I hadn't found out who she really was. As selfish as it sounds for Sally's family, I really wish she hadn't found out who she truly was. But for the good of the majority, sometimes suffering is necessary."  
  
"Hey there are plenty of other fish out in the sea. You'll find a woman someday that will make you forget all about Akima." Hedaya replied, "Believe me, I know what you're suffering. My fiance was killed by the Heartless three days before our wedding. It took me three years, a lot of beers, and the woman I eventually married before I recovered."  
  
"That's just the thing. I don't want to forget Akima." Bilby said, "If I forget about her, who else is going to remember her."  
  
"Keep your chin up man, someone will turn up." Hedaya replied and walked back inside, recognizing his fellow sniper desired to be left alone.  
  
"Liberate tutemae ex inferis. Save yourself from Hell. Thanks for reminding me that I can save myself." Bilby replied, and then grinned.  
  
A star blinked, as if on the verge of going out forever, but instead it remained at its original brightness. "Maybe we'll win this after all mate." Bilby said, indicating the star, "Some world just resisted and successfully drove the Heartless away."  
  
"See, you're getting better at it already." Hedaya replied.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Kitty didn't want to return to Shipwreck's house, what with her teammates griping about Lance, the adults scheming to recruit the more powerful mutants, and just the constant arguing with the Misfits that was going on.  
  
"No wonder the Misfits hate us." Kitty said to herself as she sat on the front porch of the dojo, hugging her knees to her chest, "We judged every single one of them before they even had a chance. The problem is we're too proud to admit that we just might learn something from them."  
  
Lance Alvers decided again that mediation was a no go option at this point as was too worried about that vision he had seen earlier about Kitty being harmed by Maleficent. With slow deliberate movement he stood up, his feet shoulder width apart. Forming a triangle with his hands he slowly raised his arms, turning his face upward.  
  
"Imagine the triangle encompasses your life. Spirit, mind and body are the corners of the triangle." Lance began, reciting the mantra Stormshadow taught him, as ridiculous as it sounded, "There can be no body without the mind. There can be no mind without the body. The spirit brings all together and binds us all."  
  
He began a slow movement, to the balls of his feet then shifting the weight of his body to the right leg, putting 70% of his weight on the right leg and 30% on the left. He moved his hands with deceptive slowness. He remembered to keep his breathing even, his eyes half closed, relying entirely on muscle memory.  
  
He became vaguely aware of a presence inside the room. "Lance?" Kitty asked.  
  
Lance's concentration dropped completely and Kitty tried to catch him. Instead they fell to the floor lying in each other's arms.  
  
"Don't you think you should take me to dinner first?" Lance grinned.  
  
"Lance, you are not funny." Kitty said, with mock offense as she crawled out from underneath him.  
  
"I thought you never did this sort of thing on first dates." Lance said.  
  
"Lance stop it." Kitty said, playfully punching him on the arm.  
  
"Ow." Lance said, "I'm still kind of sore from the obstacle course Stormshadow specially designed."  
  
"Sorry." Kitty replied.  
  
"I really missed you these past few weeks." Lance said.  
  
"So have I." Kitty replied, "The Professor has expanded the amount of time we're spending here on the base. He's trying to recruit you."  
  
"Tell him the answer is no." Lance replied, "I'm not leaving my friends, as annoying or insane as they can be, their like the brothers and sisters I never had, I'm never leaving them behind."  
  
"Lance..." Kitty began.  
  
"Even when I tried to join the X-men I missed them. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have lasted as long as I did." Lance began.  
  
"Lance, that is so sweet." Kitty replied, fumbling for words, as she was at a complete loss for them.  
  
Lance smiled as Kitty put her arms around him and gave him a small peck on the cheek. Almost every evening she had been doing this, to keep up his morale. And it was working. Lance showed more spirit, more will, and more confidence for the next day whenever he was allowed contact with his friends.  
  
Observing all of this, Spirit realized that a more positive change could be added to Lance's training program. It was time to let him back into the house, where he could live with his adopted family and return to the dojo while the others trained.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Up next. What happens when Lance is allowed back into the house? What happens when GI Joe discovers what has become of Dr. Mindbender? 


	25. Task Force

Task Force  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Captain Fetterman stood before General Hawk in his office, "Sir, my eight guys and your troops, even with the coalition of the Misfits and the X-men can only do so much. Now I've been pushing my chain of command for reinforcements, because between rest breaks and training we haven't been able to pull of as many missions as I've been thinking we could pull off. And the Heartless appear to be very deeply rooted in your dimension."  
  
"How many?" Hawk sighed  
  
"Maybe twenty or so operators from my squadron." Fetterman replied, "I would have overall command of the Gamma detachment, but we'd have more operators to help your forces out."  
  
"Are you sure further interdiction is required?" Hawk asked.  
  
"Sir, with the increased activity by both the Heartless and COBRA, we're gonna be hard pressed to keep hitting and hurting them hard and often." Fetterman replied.  
  
"When is the reinforcement due to arrive?" Hawk asked.  
  
Fetterman glanced at his watch, "In about eight hours."  
  
The phone rang just then, "General Hawk. Captain Fetterman, it's for you, it's General Metzger."  
  
"Metzger?" Fetterman paled for a bit, "He's the CO of Task Force Romeo, our reinforcement should Heartless activity become too great for my team to handle. We're talking a 450 man task force and associated hardware.  
  
Hawk dialed a number on another phone, this time he was directing a working party with Beach Head's supervision to clean out one of the unused hangars, Hangar 15, for the Task Force.  
  
Fetterman talked to his commanding officer, "Yes sir. We'll have spaces ready for the unit when it gets here."  
  
"Fetterman, what does this force consist of?" Hawk asked.  
  
"We're talking one company of 120 men from the 75th Ranger Regiment, all one hundred men of C Squadron, Gamma Unit, plus a four man Air Force spec ops unit and a four man SEAL detachment from SEAL Team Six. Round this out with support troops and men from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and that's the Emergency Response Task Force. Whenever a Gamma Unit encounters more than it can handle, we have a task force come in, plus a Quick Reaction Force of a division's worth of Malaysian, Pakistani, Indian, and Saudi troops on standby alert." Fetterman replied, "Ever since the Titan mission, we've had these ERTFs standing by at all times whenever Gamma Unit personnel go on missions. They're properly trained, armed, and equipped, all they need are missions."  
  
Hawk paled as well, "The Heartless infestation is that bad?"  
  
"Apparently if they've sent ERTF in plus have a division on standby, yes it is." Fetterman replied.  
  
"The quarters will be cleared for them. But let's get the ground rules laid out, this is my dimension, and my base, I am not permitting hordes of troops running roughshod around here." Hawk said.  
  
"Rest assured sir, we'll work with your men but not attempt to commandeer or try to run your operations for you." Fetterman replied.  
  
"As long as we understand one another this should work out just fine. Just things on base are gonna be a tad crowded..." Hawk groaned.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"So the whole squadron's coming?" Bilby said, over his walkie talkie.  
  
"That's affirmative Aussie." David Falk said.  
  
"You mean Grinch, Cavendish, that whole bunch are on their way?" Bilby asked.  
  
"Yep." Falk replied, "That and a whole company's worth of Rangers, four SEALs, and four Air Force spec ops guys."  
  
"Great, sharing a hangar with the zoomies, and the squids all because Army aviation wants to commandeer Shipwreck's place." Bilby replied.  
  
"Hey, General Metzger considers well rested pilots a priority." Falk replied, "Besides he's rotating watches over Lance between us, the SEALs, the Air Force guys and plus he's stationing a squad of Rangers on hot standby at all times together with Law's MPs."  
  
"Yeah, me Stoney and Link are getting the place ready to receive all the equipment and men." Falk replied.  
  
"You mean those new guys Hawk briefed us about." Cover Girl said, coming down the stairs in sweat pants and a t-shirt, her hair still damp from a recent shower, "I heard that we're getting nine wide bodied Humvees and three five ton trucks. More work for the poor harassed folks in the motor pool?"  
  
"Not exactly Courtney." Bilby said. Cover Girl had insisted that all the Gamma operators call her Courtney when they were off duty, "We've got some support troops."  
  
"Good. I hope they brought plenty of spare parts." Cover Girl replied.  
  
"That happens to be my t-shirt you borrowed last week, I might add." Bilby replied, referring to the well worn Phil Collins concert t-shirt Bilby always carried around. It was sand brown like his desert camouflage, but it had a huge Phil Collins Concert Tour 2000 on the front.  
  
"I'll give it back after I put it through the wash." Cover Girl replied.  
  
"That's what you said last week." Bilby replied.  
  
"So who's this Grinch guy I keep hearing about?" Cover Girl asked.  
  
"We go way back." Bilby began.  
  
"Really?" Cover Girl asked.  
  
"Master Sergeant "Grinch" Goldman, he's over forty years old and has fought in every conflict, open and secret since the Heartless came into our dimension nearly thirty years ago." Bilby replied, "He's a half Apache Indian who's senses are sharper than a K-bar knife."  
  
"Will you quit talking about me like I'm not in the room you Australian koala." Said a familiar voice that had the slight Southern tinge inherent to many a career soldier.  
  
"Grinch!" Bilby shouted excitedly. Both Cover Girl and Bilby turned to see a forty-ish man, a hulking, fairly muscular fellow with plenty of Native American in his family tree.  
  
"How are you doing? I heard you picked up Sergeant. Congratulations Sergeant Bilby. You didn't think this was gonna go by good old me without an initiation." Grinch smiled.  
  
"Oh great." Leroy Hoffman shouted from outside, "One of Grinch's little initiation schemes."  
  
"Oh really. I heard Hedaya got Staff, so I've got something special planned for him." Grinch said, with a mischievous grin.  
  
"Madre de Dios Grinch." Hedaya replied, "I was hoping until this operation ended that you wouldn't pull one of your initiation stunts."  
  
"And you, since you're wearing one of the 2000 Phil Collins t-shirts specially made for the Gamma operators that performed the security detail for Phil during his USO tour are also to be part of the festivities." Grinch said to Cover Girl, "Unlike those two, you have a choice in this matter. I usually don't run these Gamma type initiations on women. So if you'd like to participate you're welcome to do so."  
  
"I can take whatever you dish out." Cover Girl replied.  
  
"Please reconsider. Grinch's initiations are not for the faint of heart." Hedaya warned from upstairs.  
  
"I've been through the GI Joe indoc training, and not to mention all of Dusty and Cross Country's crazy little motor pool initiations. I'm not afraid of this one." Cover Girl replied.  
  
"I'm afraid you might wanna reconsider." Hedaya replied.  
  
"OK, how about we have a bet. If you throw up, faint, or fall asleep first the loser has to go up to Hawk dressed as Madonna and sing Material Girl in front of him." Cover Girl replied.  
  
"Deal." Hedaya replied, "I must warn you to reconsider though..." Hedaya replied.  
  
"Trust me, I'm holding nothing back. You volunteered for this. You asked for it. You're going through everything Bilby and Hedaya are going through." Grinch said with a evil grin.  
  
"Why because she made sergeant last week?" Pietro said, zipping by.  
  
"Traitor." Cover Girl said.  
  
"What are you doing here so early?" Bilby asked Grinch.  
  
"We're the advance party. We got flown in ahead of the original group on the C-130s. Our plane has all the helicopters and aircrew aboard. We were able to get four extra seats. So me, Leroy Hoffman, Cass Garner, and Mark Lazio are all here." Grinch replied.  
  
"Great." Bilby replied.  
  
"So about those Phil Collins t-shirts, do you have any extras lying around?" Cover Girl asked.  
  
"I can always make another one, with an I Survived Grinch Night 2003." Grinch replied.  
  
"Grinch Night?" Cover Girl asked.  
  
"He has all kinds of names for his Initiation ceremonies for newly promoted sergeants." Bilby replied.  
  
"Not to mention the pool sharks are here." Hedaya replied, "I've lost enough money playing pool against you clowns."  
  
Leroy Hoffman grinned evilly, "Well prepare to lose more my friend."  
  
"Pool sharks eh?" Shipwreck called from upstairs, "Well let me introduce myself. I am Hector Delgato, also called Shipwreck. I am the Great White Shark of the Pool Sharks."  
  
Cover Girl rolled her eyes, "Please, what about yesterday when you lost to Ace."  
  
"Hon, that was one isolated incident." Shipwreck protested.  
  
"That's what you said last time. And the time Alpine beat you. And the time Bazooka beat you. So you're turning into the Nurse Shark of all Pool Sharks." Althea replied.  
  
"I don't believe this, double teamed by my own daughter and my girlfriend." Shipwreck groaned.  
  
"Well, let's see if the old Nurse Shark of all Pool Sharks still has some game left in him?" Leroy Hoffman grinned.  
  
"Enlisted club at 1900." Shipwreck replied.  
  
"You're on." Leroy Hoffman replied.  
  
"Hector." Cover Girl said, "Do try not to lose too badly."  
  
"You watch me, I'll show these three how sailors play pool." Shipwreck replied.  
  
"Badly." Cover Girl replied.  
  
"Courtney!" Shipwreck shouted from upstairs.  
  
"So these are the new guys were working with?" Cover Girl asked Bilby.  
  
"Just a fraction. The Rangers I don't know very many of them." Bilby replied.  
  
"They're from K Company, 75th Ranger Regiment." Grinch replied.  
  
"Holy Shit!" Bilby shouted, "You mean two of my old friends are coming by here?"  
  
"Yep." Grinch replied, "Two guys you knew since you were a boy soldier with the 25th Infantry Division."  
  
"Corporal Hector Illario and Sergeant Dominic Rossalvo?" Bilby asked.  
  
"The Gruesome Twosome themselves." Grinch replied, remembering Cass Garner's tale about the two hell raisers he had been the platoon sergeant for before he joined the Gamma Unit.  
  
"They were my best friends since I first finished ILJB." Bilby added.  
  
"What's ILJB?" Cover Girl asked.  
  
"All recruits from the ages of 16-18 are required to go through the Infantry Junior Leadership Battalion before we go on to our unit. It's a six week course after Basic training." Bilby added.  
  
"When you were sixteen?" Cover Girl said, "Oh I forgot, different dimension, different rules. Man, when I was sixteen the biggest concern I had was wondering if the boy I had a crush on knew I was even alive."  
  
"Having your home destroyed by the Heartless will have that effect on you." Bilby replied. Cover Girl, as well as all of Charlie Squadron, knew that Bilby had lied about his age to join the Army to avenge his family against the Heartless.  
  
"That's why we have a vast majority of our boy soldiers in our Army." Grinch replied, "Many come from homes where their families were destroyed by the Heartless."  
  
"That's why we have to stop them." Cover Girl said, "So no other boy soldiers have to die."  
  
"That's what we hope to do. Provide a future that doesn't consist of constant vigilance and fighting Heartless for our children." Grinch replied, "I just hope myself and the rest of the task force can be that successful."  
  
"Now, there's an initiation for two newly promoted sergeants and one staff sergeant we need to get ready for at midnight tonight." Leroy Hoffman said, with a wide grin.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Next: The rest of the task force moves in, more missions, and more fights against the Heartless...And more X-men/Misfit brawls.... 


	26. Pool Sharks

Pool Sharks, Angst and Initiations  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before. Sorry this took a while. As of this Friday I won't be able to go near a computer until late July. Expect to see more chapters of Kilo Two Zero then.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Prepare to get your ass beat Shipwreck." Cass Garner shouted.  
  
"In your dreams you Army landlubber." Shipwreck replied.  
  
"Hey, watch it with the army cracks Hector." Cover Girl shouted.  
  
"Sorry Courtney." Shipwreck replied.  
  
"Hey look, a sea dog with a leash." Mark Lazio replied, as he chalked his pool cue.  
  
"Oh shut up Shipwreck and break already." Alpine complained. Alpine, Shipwreck, and Recondo formed the GI Joe Pool Team and Sergeant First Class Cass Garner, Staff Sergeant Mark Lazio, and Sergeant Leroy Hoffman formed the Gamma Pool Team.  
  
This was the kick off of the first ever Pool Shark Tourney held at the Enlisted Club. "Alright, this one's gonna be one sweet shot..." Shipwreck began and made his shot.  
  
"Ah, you got lucky squid." Mark Lazio replied, as he saw Shipwreck sink the number four ball.  
  
"Team GI Joe is solids." Quick Kick announced, "Team Gamma is the stripes."  
  
"Oh my God," Althea whispered in Cover Girl's ear, "Don't tell me that the whole team jumped in on this madness?"  
  
"Yep, they did. Looks like Shipwreck started yet another wild tournament on base." Cover Girl quipped, "Well, a lot of three man teams from the Gamma and Ranger units are playing against a lot of our guys. Bazooka, Ace, and Law are next playing three Rangers."  
  
"Hey, hate to break up the mutiny on the USS Shipwreck, but have you two seen Bilby anywhere?" Grinch asked.  
  
"I think I know where he might be." Cover Girl replied. On the way out she snagged Jose Hedaya.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Why her of all people?" Bilby asked into the vastness of the heavens, "Why did you have me meet her, fall in love with her, and tear her away from me not once but twice? Was this all some sort of cruel joke!? Answer me damn it!"  
  
"Hey you." Came a voice behind him.  
  
"I know it's been hard on you since you lost Akima, but you can't let it affect you like this." Jose replied.  
  
"I just had another attack. I've gone through this before, but it's not any easier. Usually they come unexpectedly. I'll see something, hear something and smell something that reminds me and then I feel warm and tingly all over, as if I can feel her leaning against my side when we'd stay up late watching movies, when the Misfits and the X-men would have fallen asleep. She always would say she wasn't sleepy...Oh God I'm rambling again." Bilby replied.  
  
"Yes you are, but sometimes it's the best way to find out what's bugging you if you just ramble on." Cover Girl replied.  
  
"Anyway, she'd insist, just like a little kid, that she wasn't tired, and the next thing I'd know, she was leaning solidly against my side, sound asleep." Bilby replied.  
  
"I do remember you tucking her in a lot of nights when she did that." Cover Girl replied.  
  
"She meant the world to you, I know." Hedaya added, "We're here for you, but you need to reach out to us and let us help you."  
  
"I still feel that a lot of nights, when I sit up late to watch movies, for the hell of it. I can feel her sleeping against my side, I can even hear her breathe and feel her heart beating, but then I'll put my arm out there and it'll go around nothing but air." Bilby replied, "You don't know how many nights since that I've had to wipe away tears I wasn't allowed to shed after the first time I lost her."  
  
"She used to tell me that even though she'd been through a lot in her life, she really wished that there was something she could do to help you deal with your grief." Cover Girl replied.  
  
"You'd think someone who'd seen her planet destroyed, her family die off, her beloved captured, tortured, and killed by the Heartless, and her new home also destroyed would be cynical and embittered." Bilby replied, "Despite that, she was able to remain hopeful and willing to help others before she'd help herself."  
  
"She was an incredible young woman." Cover Girl said, "She really believed in what cause she served, but freedom has its price."  
  
"I'd give anything for the price to have been me instead of her." Bilby replied.  
  
"Then Akima would be sitting over here on the grassy knoll, and we'd have to comfort her." Cover Girl replied, "She always used to say how she could see right through the courageous, stoic warrior and see the tender, gentle soul inside whenever she talked about you. She said when she was a prisoner of the Heartless, the knowledge that you would fight your way through against any odds just to rescue her was what kept her going."  
  
"I really hope that Mindbender is really suffering out there for what he did to both of us." Bilby replied, "He gave me an artificial heaven and tore an innocent young woman away from her family."  
  
"Add that to the list of things we all want Mindbender to answer for." Cover Girl replied.  
  
"I know that if I see him on a mission I'm gonna shoot the no good son of a bitch." Bilby replied, then added, "In the guts so he dies slower."  
  
Little did Bilby know that the man he wished to settle the score with was slowly suffering a fate worse than death. Day by day, the mysterious transformation continued like an inexorable for. Only treatments, many of them highly dangerous and experimental, were keeping him alive.  
  
He also didn't know that every word that he said was being heard by a tiny mechanical bug, a leftover from the attempted COBRA takeover. It had been forgotten, but Mindbender used it to track Akima's progress and very often listened to his victim, as she confided in words to those around her. The bug remained, though the person he altered to appear as Akima was now back at her home.  
  
"Death would be a release from this hell." Mindbender replied, as he threw a full body hooded cloak over his frail, weakened frame. He no longer traipsed about proudly, displaying his shirtless muscular frame tastefully covered by his cape. His visage and body appeared too weakened and ravaged by this hideous transformation. The antennae would now no longer retract whenever he immersed himself in the chemical baths. Increasing its concentration would only be effective to a point. It was already dangerously close to a level where immersion for any length of time would make exposure through skin contact extremely carcinogenic.  
  
Mindbender laughed ironically before it was truncated by a cough that caused a mixture of blood, spittle, and mucus to eject from his mouth. The last thing he had to worry about was a slow death from cancer. The antennae, on the upside, gave him sharper perception of what occurred around him and enabled him to pick up radio traffic within a half mile radius.  
  
Any of his foes and even his allies would find this amusing, the creator of freaks, mutants and monsters was now becoming something that if he had the inclination or time, he might just have created. He watched the bug's transmissions, for all they were worth. There was a corner of the dining area aboard the Valkyrie where Bilby, Hedaya and Cover Girl stood. In it were three pictures, one an older, brown haired and bearded man, the second of a blonde haired man, about twenty years old, and the third was easily recognizable as Akima.  
  
"You just stumbled on our shrine to our fallen shipmates." Stith said from behind them.  
  
"Where's Gune?" Bilby asked, "Doesn't he not let anyone near this?"  
  
"He's too busy enjoying himself at the enlisted club. He's making quite a few dollars, because Shipwreck just won, and everybody bet against his team winning. I gotta admit, of the few things Shipwreck can do right, pool is one of them." Stith replied.  
  
"I recognized Akima, who are the other two?" Cover Girl asked.  
  
"The bearded guy is Joseph Corso, he was the Valkyrie's original captain. He was ex military, a close friend of Dr. Tucker, who invented the Titan. The Titan had the power to create whole planets and that's what the Drej feared when they destroyed Earth. Fifteen years later, Dr. Tucker's son, Cale, the blonde guy, discovered the Titan with Akima and the rest of us. Corso initially betrayed us to the Drej but had a change of heart and with his sacrifice enabled the Titan to create New Earth, or Planet Bob as Cale called it." Stith replied.  
  
Cover Girl and Hedaya listened intently as Stith continued, "Cale and Akima became really close during the search for the Titan and eventually fell in love. A year later the Heartless attacked New Earth. Cale and several citizens went underground, trying to organize a resistance. During a raid in which a traitor betrayed us, Cale was captured."  
  
Stith's expression shifted into the human equivalent of a hard stare and took a pained tone, "Akima wanted to rescue him, but we wouldn't let her, because if she was captured the entire resistance would be effectively destroyed. She was the only one strong enough to lead our resistance. I still remember how it hurt her to see Cale three days later, just seconds before his televised execution. I don't know how long they tortured Cale in those three days, but all I know is that at some point he broke and told them the locations of nearly a dozen other resistance leaders. With ruthless efficiency the Heartless killed every member of those twelve other cells, leaving ours the only one remaining."  
  
Bilby hung his head, "I remember having comforted Akima shortly after we first met. That's why she got along with me the best out of the eight man team, because both of us had seen all that we had loved destroyed by a ruthless and implacable enemy."  
  
Stith left them alone as she went back to retrieve Gune from the enlisted club. Cover Girl looked at her watch, "Bilby, we've got an initiation to go to. Let's go show Grinch what we're made of."  
  
Blby smiled, sadly, "I'm ready to go."  
  
"If you'd like, you can dedicate your performance during this test to Akima." Hedaya said, seriously.  
  
Bilby's smile became a ghost of his original lopsided grin from a few weeks past, when he thought Akima had returned. "This is for you Akima." Bilby whispered to himself.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"So, vhat's vith Bilby?" Kurt asked, "Lately he's been extremely short tempered."  
  
"You mean the incident where he sent all of you to the ground for a set of seventy pushups." Toad replied.  
  
"Ja." Kurt replied, "Just because he lost the love of his life doesn't give him license to be a jerk."  
  
"He has been a little harsh lately. He's been going through quite a bit of corning. I'll go talk to him." Goofy replied.  
  
"That's mourning Goofy." Donald corrected.  
  
Just then another argument sounded, "What do you mean Gambit cheated?" Gambit shouted.  
  
"You hear me." Pietro shouted, "I saw you dealing from the bottom of that deck!"  
  
"Gambit beat you with a royal flush, fair and square. Pay up Quicksilver." Gambit replied.  
  
"I'm not paying a cheat at this table!" Pietro replied.  
  
"That's it, half-brother or not, the gloves are coming OFF!" Rogue shouted.  
  
Gambit started to power up as well. As good as Goofy was at stopping fights he was not superhuman and could only be in one place at one time. "One, I'm too fast to catch, two people are only gonna get scared if you don't say the same thing every time you don't get your way." Pietro replied.  
  
"Leave my chere out of this, Quicksilver!" Gambit shouted and threw a charged cue ball at Pietro.  
  
Pietro ducked and the projectile struck the nearby circuit breaker. The entire room went black.  
  
"Just once, I'd like an evening with you to not be interrupted by an explosion, riot, or similar disaster. Is that so much to ask?" Lance said.  
  
"You mean when Leatherneck and Wetsuit go at it." Said a female voice.  
  
"Kitty?" Lance asked.  
  
"I've been called a lot of things, but Kitty is something new."  
  
"Yipe!" Lance shouted, when he turned on a tiny flashlight attached to his key chain. Framed by the tiny circle of light was Lady Jaye.  
  
"You're not Flint!" Lady Jaye said, surprised.  
  
Across the room, Kitty asked, "Like, what just happened?"  
  
"Allie, since when do you talk like a Valley Girl wannabe?" a strange male voice asked.  
  
Flint knew Lady Jaye was known for having a flaming tongue when pushed too far by his sometimes obnoxious personality, but he didn't think she literally had one. A gust of flame came flying his way and he barely ducked in time. His beret wasn't so lucky, it lay flaming on the table. It provided enough light to show Flint that his quiet evening at the enlisted club with Lady Jaye had just taken a very bizarre turn.  
  
"Where did you come from!?!?" they simultaneously asked each other as the lights turned on.  
  
They may have been deposited speedily across the room from each other, but the lights came back on soon enough to show that a certain speedy mutant was tucking a pair of night vision goggles into his shirt.  
  
"Pietro...." Lance said with an angry hiss.  
  
"Uh oh." Pietro replied, when he saw an equally pissed of Flint, Lady Jaye, and Kitty Pryde coming after him.  
  
Meanwhile, Grinch stood outside with a broad grin as Cover Girl, Bilby, and Hedaya stood outside. "Now, let's see what we shall begin with. Chilli peppers?"  
  
"Check." Leroy Hoffman said, holding a clipboard and a pen.  
  
"Tobasco sauce." Grinch said, going down the list.  
  
"Check."  
  
"Rubber chickens."  
  
"Check."  
  
"Deck of playing cards."  
  
"Sorry, Gambit's using them." Leroy said, laconically as one flew out of the window and exploded into a tree.  
  
"Let me guess, Maximoff pulled this off?" Grinch asked.  
  
"HELLLLLPPPPP!!!!!!!" Pietro shouted, running out of the enlisted club with Flint, Lady Jaye, Lance, and Kitty chasing him.  
  
"There he is! Show him no mercy!!!" Kitty shouted.  
  
Before Grinch could even react Pietro ran into him at near maximum speed, bowling Grinch off his feet and making him land on top of Leroy Hoffman who rolled down a gentle slope, bowling over Cass Garner and Mark Lazio with the shaving cream ballons.  
  
Covered in shaving cream at the bottom of the hill, Grinch said, "Grinch Night 2003, postponed on account of sudden death."  
  
Grinch keeled over and wouldn't wake up for a good six hours. "That was the shortest initiation I've ever been through." Hedaya quipped.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
To be continued... 


	27. Time on the Base

Time on the Base  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before. The Gamma Unit and Task Force are mine, however. The lyrics of Powerman 5000 the End is Over or KC and the Sunshine Band aren't mine though. Eau de Shipwreck is the creation of Red Witch.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Chief, what the hell are you doing?" Sergeant Dominic Rossalvo asked SEAL EMC (Electrician's Mate Chief) Robert K. Brewster.  
  
"Wiring up a killer sound system, what does it look like sarge." Brewster replied.  
  
"Chief, we've got some more of those old sub woofers from the Enlisted Club." QM1 (Quartermater 1st Class) Gregory Wassner, a lanky German with a sparse growth of beard, reported.  
  
AB3 (Aviation Bosun's Mate 3rd Class) "Scuttle" Walders and DC3 (Damage Controlman 3rd Class) Armand D'Artagnan were unloading speakers and spools of wire. The two were good buddies, with Scuttle being the surveillance expert and Armand being the close quarter battle expert.  
  
"Whatever, it isn't gonna work and I know it. It's a good thing I brought a boom box." Rossalvo cracked.  
  
"Sarge. This sound system's not gonna work, I'm telling you. I bet that I'll kiss Beach Head full on the mouth if it does." Dominic Rossalvo added.  
  
"You're on Ranger." Brewster replied with a lopsided and toothy grin, "On the lips."  
  
"WHAT! Hell no! Just on the cheek." Rossalvo replied.  
  
"On the lips." Brewster insisted.  
  
"Oh OK. No tongue." Rossalvo replied.  
  
"Full tongue action." Brewster replied.  
  
"What! No way! I'm not gonna kiss Beach Head with full tongue action." Rossalvo shouted.  
  
"Fine, church wedding tongue. You know, like in the Wedding Singer." Brewster added.  
  
"Speak of the Devil." Bilby groaned from his cot, which was on the Gamma side of the hangar. The various units had partitioned the old hangar off into various little warrens. In the center was a TV with VCR and DVD players attached as well as a couple satellite phones. The Gamma Unit cots were to the left as you entered the hangar, they were surrounded by mosquito net and chest high sandbags with a crude arch-like entryway with a sign that had the words: Gamma Territory: Enter at Your Own Risk. The four SEALs cordoned off the right corner and the Air Force guys had their little corner going inward of the hangar along the wall to the right as you entered. The Rangers occupied the rest of the hangar with the helicopter pilots living in trailers along the edge of the tarmac.  
  
Beach Head came into the hangar just at that moment, "Ah, for once I'm in a place where the people are half resembling military personnel."  
  
At that moment a booger flew across the hangar and narrowly missed Beach Head. "Well, I guess that leave Cass out of it." Bilby replied, indicating Leroy Hoffman, sitting on a folding lawn chair with a guitar picking his nose with one hand.  
  
Right about then Stoney danced to some disco music on his walkman wearing nothing but his boxer shorts and flip flops with his trademark loud tye dyed headband. "Everybody! Come on sound your funky horn!!!"  
  
"C'mon Chief, get that sound system running, this singing is driving me nuts!" Wassner shouted from the floor.  
  
"WHOOP!" Chief shouted as he fell off of a crossbar.  
  
"CHIEF!" Armand yelled and shoved a cot underneath him.  
  
"No need to worry DC3, I've got a length of bungee cord around my waist." Brewster replied, "I'm done up there anyway."  
  
Chief cut himself free with his dive knife and trundled off to make a few connections on the CD player, AM/FM radio, 8 track and tape player system he had put into the Navy side of the hangar.  
  
"QM1, she's ready for a test. Will you do the honors?" Brewster said.  
  
"Gotcha Chief." Wassner replied, taking a Powerman 5000 CD from his CD wallet.  
  
"Slip back. Slip back in time. Before everything was gone. Do you converse with the universe? And let them know that they were wrong? It's all over. The end is over. So let's do it again and again and again."  
  
The lyrics blared so loudly that Beach Head who was leaning on a large amplifier was projected like a pinball into a wall by the soundwaves.  
  
"Uh, I think I should tone the volume down a tad." Wassner replied.  
  
"Ya think." Chief replied, holding his ears.  
  
As Beach Head rose shakily to his feet, he noticed a short, somewhat squat sergeant with a Ranger tab sewn into the sleeve of his desert utilities. "Oh thank God. At least you Rangers have some semblance of a normal military..."  
  
That was about as far as he got before the sergeant kissed him full on the mouth.  
  
"GAAGGGHHHH!!! What kind of insane universe do you come from!!!!" Beach Head shouted, "Get away from me! Get away from me!"  
  
Beach Head ran screaming across the tarmac, knocking over a couple of other Gamma operators on the way. "He needs to really go on vacation or something." Armand remarked.  
  
"Nah. Can you imagine Beach Head in a speedo?" Stoney remarked.  
  
"Stoney!!!" came the shout from all of the Gamma operators in hearing distance, "You are forbidden from speaking of that ever again!"  
  
"I don't know, I think it would be a sexy sight to see." Scarlet said as she walked into the hangar, "Now where's Captain Fetterman, I need that latest report on Heartless activity."  
  
"He's out back." Bilby replied, walking out of the hangar with his rifle and pack again.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Bilby trudged across the trail through the glade that the Joes had made on the base. It was good to be back with his old buddies from the unit, but lately he had been needing a lot more time alone. He could sum up everything that was getting to him with just one word. Akima.  
  
He could see Lance and Kitty sneaking out the dojo for one of their little secret rendezvous. He smiled despite himself, the romantic inside him wasn't entirely dead, he was just on life support. It was the little things he missed most of all, taking walks in the park, watching movies late in the night and falling asleep in front of the TV, driving Beach Head crazy. They had been doing this for over a week now and were unaware that Spirit and Stormshadow knew all about these little jaunts but let Lance go on them anyway since he drew strength from his relationship with Kitty. They waved at him as he trudged across the trail at a fairly steady clip and he waved back, belatedly as there was quite a lot on his mind.  
  
He could almost see her now, her wry smiles, her constant hope, and her care for her people. Everything he loved lost to the Heartless. Akima, his family, his buddies killed throughout the years in God knows how many firefights. Akima's death was the most tragic at the time, because it was most recent. There was so much in his mind right now and he needed to clear his head. There had once been a desire for love, but because of the Heartless and COBRA's deception there remained nothing aside from a burning desire for vengeance and a great agony.  
  
"Vae Victus. Suffering to the conquered. Only you, Mindbender, will be the one conquered. If I lay eyes upon you, you will die slowly and with great agony because I'll shoot you in the guts and let you bleed out into your own chemicals." Bilby grumbled.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Not ten minutes after he had waved at Bilby trudging down the trail Lance saw Cover Girl, Hedaya, and Shipwreck walking by. He wasn't supposed to leave the dojo unless authorized and Goofy and Donald had to always be nearby as well as a Gamma security detail. This was as good a bust as any and Avalanche rolled his eyes and braced himself for the ultimate tongue- lashing.  
  
"I must admit, Avalanche and Shadowcat, that was one clever idea you had to sneak out during Lance's rest hours." Shipwreck began, "But as Torpedo once told me, 'If you aren't cheating you aren't trying.' And you maties are definitely trying."  
  
"Have you guys seen Bilby anywhere?" Hedaya asked.  
  
"He was on one of his long walks again." Lance replied.  
  
"Great, thanks." Cover Girl replied, winking at them, "Now I'd hurry, Blind Master and Spirit just locked themselves into their secret bar with Logan, Hank, Xavier and even Stormshadow."  
  
"Have fun you two." Hedaya replied, "That's an order."  
  
"What are you, Beach Head now!" Shipwreck quipped as he playfully whacked Hedaya behind the head.  
  
Hedaya was about to reply he heard footsteps approaching and turned to one side. He could see a rather lean, muscular fellow carrying a tiny assault pack with a 12 gauge shotgun with a headband wrapped around his forehead. He recognized him as DC3 D'Artagnan, the Frenchman with a fresh haircut he had received after having been on an eight month long deep recon mission. "It seems the trails are in use."  
  
Behind him was his buddy, a fellow with longish hair that stuck out under his camouflage boonie hat. He recognized him as the guy the other SEALs called Scuttle. He was an eccentric character who had been a former narcotic's officer with the Miami Police Department before he joined the Navy. He and Armand were inseparable pals from what Hedaya could see. Scuttle carried his M-16 like it was an extension of his body. Despite the jokes that the other SEALs made about him, Scuttle was every bit alert and capable.  
  
"Well howdy do fellas." Scuttle said, "How goes it here in the woods?"  
  
"It goeth fine Sir Scuttle." Hedaya replied, remembering Chief's advice to just humor the eccentric 'long-haired' operator.  
  
"Dude, that guy needs a drug test." Corporal Grover Kiley (aka Shades), a Gamma operator walking with the two SEALs said to his buddy, Mario.  
  
The Hispanic lad with the trio, Sergeant Mario Juarez agreed, "Yeah, but he's pretty silent when he needs to be."  
  
At that time, Scuttle released a fairly noisome and nasty smelling spray of gas from his trousers. "Oh man, that's worse than feeding Blob anything that is even VAGUELY Mexican." Shipwreck moaned.  
  
"Yeah, you still owe me about fifteen more days of diaper duty after you fed Chili Con Carne with extra tobasco sauce to not only the Blob but to BOTH your babies." Cover Girl replied.  
  
"Courtney, will you please have mercy on me? I swear I thought the Chili was baby food." Shipwreck replied.  
  
"Hector, chili con carne and strained carrots do not even remotely look alike." Cover Girl replied.  
  
"Whoa. Whoa!" Scuttle replied, "Save that for when..."  
  
Before he could say, "You're married" three hands clamped over his mouth, "Scuttle!" they all shouted.  
  
"What, all I was gonna say was..." Scuttle began.  
  
"Have a nice pack of M&M's, the jumbo sized bag!" Armand shouted, and threw it at Scuttle.  
  
"Ooh! Peanut butter M&M's, great!" Scuttle replied.  
  
"We gotta take care of the stench from Scuttle's stink bomb attack before we all die of gas poisoning." Mario replied, as he picked up a glass bottle with the label Eau de Shipwreck on it.  
  
"On second thought, don't use it." Hedaya said, spying the label, "I know just what to do with it."  
  
Hedaya tossed it behind him into the road. The bottle shattered and none of the group saw Beach Head angrily storming down the road and slip on the bottle's contents, smearing himself with Eau de Shipwreck in the process.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"He was just here, boy he's sure being sloppy. I'm reading his trail like an open book." Armand said, as they trekked towards a plateau just off base.  
  
"Sloppy and distracted. There's a lot on this guy's mind." Hedaya groaned, "Bilby, do I always have to chase you down every time you've got guard duty."  
  
"You'd think he'd want to spend time in a nice house instead of a crowded hangar." Scuttle quipped. He got several pissed off looks from everyone but Armand, "What did I say?"  
  
"Let's just say Bilby's under a lot of stress and leave it at that." Cover Girl replied.  
  
"OK, I won't mention to him about the Titan mission, his girlfriend being a mole or..." Scuttle replied.  
  
"Scuttle, you're my best friend and all," Armand said, "But shut the hell up."  
  
"OK." Scuttle replied, and started singing, "Three stooges are better than one..."  
  
"SCUTTLE!!!!" came the shout from the other six people in the patrol.  
  
"OK, OK, I'll shut up!" Scuttle groaned, "Boy you Army guys are no fun."  
  
"Go Navy." Shipwreck whispered conspiratorially.  
  
"Guys..." Armand said, tapping the arguing five people. Scuttle was gesticulating wildly, apparently he took the no talking ordinance a little too far. He was flapping his arms like a bird and waddling like a duck. Armand saw what he was talking about and was trying to get their attention.  
  
"What?" Shipwreck said, "Scuttle, what the hell are you doing? I don't have time for charades."  
  
Just then the sky went dark as several ducks came flying in a massed swarm down the skylines. "AAGGGH!!!!" Shipwreck shouted, diving behind a boulder.  
  
"Boy you mates suck." A familiar Australian voice sounded, "You couldn't sneak up on a deaf elephant."  
  
Suddenly he felt a tap on his shoulder and saw two camouflaged faces behind him. "BLIMEY!" Bilby shouted and practically jumped eight feet into the air like an armadillo being hit by a car.  
  
"Relax Shipwreck, I don't think those birds were after you." Hedaya quipped.  
  
"Good. Because it's bad enough Courtney's ticked off at me over the chili disaster last night, now I don't need Polly ticked off either." Shipwreck added.  
  
"Eau de Shipwreck put in an appearance again, eh?" Cover Girl remarked.  
  
Hedaya whistled to himself, "Billions of blue blistering barnacles! Do you know how DEADLY that stuff is? I'm still having nightmares about ducks!" Shipwreck yelled.  
  
"You dream about ducks. Wicked man, I get some weird dreams too you know." Scuttle remarked.  
  
"Bad Scuttle! No dream stories!" Armand shouted.  
  
"In fact, I once dreamt of a brontosaurus tap dancing in the passageway in the barracks last night..." Scuttle remarked.  
  
Just then a scream echoed from the base, it sounded like Beach Head followed by a chorus of quacks. "I think I know where that bottle of Eau de Shipwreck landed." Hedaya laughed.  
  
"HELP! SOMEBODY! SAVE ME!" Beach Head shouted, "Where's Shadowcat's stupid dragon when you need it?"  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Up next: Beach Head has some up close and personal encounters with amorous waterfowl, a mission gets planned, and Craig and Paul make their first appearance. 


	28. Waterfowl and Other Woes

Waterfowl and Other Woes  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before. The GI Joe Talent Show series is one of my creations, however. I'll get back to the plot at some point or the other.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Gee Beach Head, you've got yourself a little fan club going there." Shipwrecked said, grinning wildly as he walked onto the base.  
  
"SHIPWRECK!!!!" Beach Head shouted, "You've got a lot of explaining to do and...OH NO AAACCCCKKKK!!!!"  
  
Just then several ducks clung to Beach Head's calves with their wings and started humping him. "D'Artagnan, give me that shotgun right now!" Beach Head shouted.  
  
"I'm afraid I can't monsieur, these are a rare and endangered species of mallard..." Armand began.  
  
"They're migrating, I guess." Shipwreck grinned, and said, "Damn of all the times to forget the camera...."  
  
"You forgot, but I didn't." Cover Girl grinned, holding up a tiny digital camera and snapping several photos, "This one's going on the GI Joe Public Relations Website. After all, somebody didn't want their picture on the site...."  
  
"OH NO! You're not getting away with this!" Beach Head shouted.  
  
"C'mon Beach Head, even Snake Eyes got his picture taken (with his mask), and your picture's the only one we don't have. Of course I could put the picture of the time you turned into a winged flying monstrosity during the GI Joe Talent Show." Shipwreck replied.  
  
"Speaking of which, there's another act or two tonight..." Armand said.  
  
"Oh no." Bilby replied.  
  
"What's with the GI Joe Talent show?" Armand asked.  
  
"Beach Head goes nuts every single time because somebody keeps stealing Sgt. Snuffles from him." Bilby replied.  
  
"Who's that, Beach Head's girlfriend?" Scuttle asked.  
  
"No dummy, he's his teddy bear, but don't go blabbing around the hangar about that." Bilby replied, "The less you know about the insanity on this base, the better off you'll be."  
  
"Ok." Scuttle replied, and when a bunch of curious onlookers streamed from the hangar to watch the mayhem he shouted, "Hey guys! Guess what? Beach Head sleeps with a teddy bear named Sergeant Snuffles!"  
  
"SCUTTLE!!!!" Bilby, Armand, and Hedaya yelled.  
  
"What, you told me not to blab around the hangar, so I blabbed it outside." Scuttle replied, "Speaking of which, would this be it."  
  
"Run for your lives!!!" Bilby shouted.  
  
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HOLDING SERGEANT SNUFFLES!!!!!!!!" Beach Head shouted as he grabbed a baseball bat and started chasing Scuttle.  
  
"And they're off!" Quick Kick remarked, "Scuttle laterals the bear to Shipwreck..."  
  
Shipwreck ran like a man possessed down the road as Beach Head chased him with the bat followed by a cloud of amorous water fowl.  
  
"Not again. Not again." Cover Girl remarked, "Beach Head always goes berserk whenever anyone but him handles Sergeant Snuffles."  
  
"Yeah, I kinda figured that out the hard way....." Scuttle replied, as he keeled over with a huge lump on his forehead.  
  
"Medic!" Mario shouted.  
  
"Oh calm down, it's only his head, it's not gonna cause any permanent damage." Armand replied.  
  
"I think he and Bazooka would be fast friends." Cover Girl remarked.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Hi kids! Bye kids!" Shipwreck shouted as he ran by the X-men and Misfits.  
  
"GIVE ME BACK SERGEANT SNUFFLES!!!!!" Beach Head shouted as he ran after Shipwreck with a baseball bat.  
  
"Quack! Quack!"  
  
As Shipwreck sped by Althea rolled her eyes and said, "Yeah, I know what to do."  
  
With the use of her powers Althea was able to enable a massive gush of water from several nearby fire hydrants to drench Beach Head enough to rinse free the Eau de Shipwreck formula from his body. Unfortunately a wet Beach Head smelled worse than a dry Beach Head any day of the week, even minus the Eau de Shipwreck formula.  
  
Unfortunately, Althea's little tidal wave not only drenched Beach Head but it also drenched everything in a half block's radius from where she stood. That included their trainer for the afternoon, Sergeant Slaughter.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Recondo, Bilby, Hedaya, D'Artagnan, Lady Jaye and Flint all sat in the briefing room as Scarlet handed out several dossiers and intelligence documents.  
  
"Surveillance, that is what this mission entails. Based on captured data we believe COBRA is running a front company in Los Angeles to gain funding. If we can gather some more intelligence on it we can stage a raid. Also intelligence has discovered that Dr. Mindbender is using that front as a way to fund his animal DNA derivatives, the same project that created Xi. A second objective is to confirm Mindbender's state of being. Departure time will be in one hour." Scarlet began, "A separate raiding mission for the target is being planned and distributed, but we need you to give us intelligence on them. Flint, its you job planning the mission, since you're designated commander. The brief's yours."  
  
"Right." Flint said, "Recondo, since the front company is an ostensible animal preserve you're going in undercover as a zookeeper. Lady Jaye, you're infiltrating the company's boardroom as a secretary, find anything that links this place to COBRA and confirm our suspicions. I'll coordinate all efforts and work wherever I'm needed. D'Artagnan, you're the floater, if either team needs anything, you're the man for the job. Bilby, Hedaya, put up an observation post outside the place and keep it under constant surveillance. You're our sniper support for this op, if any threats emerge, terminate them. Dismissed."  
  
As they walked out of the briefing room Flint motioned to Bilby, "Sergeant Bilby, can I see you for a minute?"  
  
"Yes sir." Bilby replied.  
  
"I understand you've been dealing with a lot of grief since you lost Akima." Flint began, "But I'm gonna need you to stay frosty. If you see Mindbender in your sights, can I trust that you will hold your fire and not shoot him?"  
  
"Yes sir." Bilby replied.  
  
"Good, I'm gonna hold you to that." Flint replied, "I know it's rough going to lose someone you care about. God knows, Akima grew on all of us at the base, we all miss her. You're not alone sergeant."  
  
"Roger that sir." Bilby replied.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"I don't know how he makes obstacle courses sound so easy." Toad groaned, "But it gets on my nerves."  
  
"Oh excuse me froggy boy, you weren't running it with a forty pound backpack and with two twenty pound sandbags on your legs." Pietro replied.  
  
"That was to guarantee you don't use your powers." Xi quipped.  
  
"Remind me to kill Airtight for creating half of his insane inventions." Jean moped, "Especially that stupid COBRA telekinetic power inhibitor that he put on me."  
  
"What's the matter Red? Annoyed that you couldn't lift your own body weight over that wall again?" Althea quipped.  
  
Jean reddened, "Hey!!!"  
  
"It's alright." Althea said, "I had trouble doing it the first few times I did. Of course I was seven at the time..."  
  
"Wow," Goofy said, "I do believe I just saw a fence being offended..."  
  
"That's mended Goofy! Mended!" Donald replied.  
  
"How's Lance?" Kitty asked them.  
  
"He's doing better. The meditation and relaxation exercises seem to be helping a lot." Donald replied.  
  
"Don't worry, he'll be fresh as a baby when he's done." Goofy replied.  
  
"That's fresh as a daisy moron!" Donald replied, jumping up and down and landing on top of one of Gune's inventions, the one with multiple pointy ends.  
  
"WWWWAAAAAOOOUUUUCCCCCHHHH!!!!" Donald shouted as he jumped out of a window.  
  
"Gee Kitty, maybe Donald should switch to decaf." Goofy said, "Hyuck."  
  
Donald went careening out of the window in a shower of glass and landed right in the rose garden. "WWWAAAAOUCH!!!!"  
  
Donald sailed through the air, landing on top of another of Gune's inventions in the front lawn, the Launchatron 5000, a spring loaded device that was powerful enough to launch a watermelon approximately 2000 yards down range. With a loud BOIOIOIOIOIOIOING it flung Donald into the air and he crashed through the skylight of a small building which recently had been modeled as Airtight's Museum of Really Sharp Objects.  
  
"Ouch!" Donald replied.  
  
"One thing's for sure, it's never dull around here." Stith replied, observing the entire deal.  
  
About five minutes later, a bandage covered Donald stormed into the room, "GUNE!!!!"  
  
"What happened to you Donald?" Gune asked.  
  
"One, no, wait, two of your demented inventions happened to me." Donald replied, holding up a small cylindrical object with a lot of spikes protruding from it, "What is this thing?"  
  
"I don't know, I invented it in my sleep a couple of nights ago." Gune replied.  
  
"How did Akima put up with you?" Donald replied.  
  
"Gune loves to make things." Stith replied, "And unfortunately the kids have been exploring their inventive sides as well...."  
  
KABOOM! The explosion sounded in the back yard as Pluto was playing back there. "Whoops." Althea replied, "My dad should be very careful where he buries the dynamite the Triplets make."  
  
"Where's Goofy?" Donald asked.  
  
"HELLLPPPP!!!!!!" the shout came echoing from upstairs.  
  
"Oh no." Donald moaned, "It looks like he's done something else. Goofy what did you do this time, get your face stuck in the plunger?"  
  
"No, worse, it's coming from Trinity's room." Althea remarked.  
  
"And I think we saw them carrying your spell book." Scuttle remarked.  
  
"WAAAAACCCKKKK!!!!!!" Donald shouted and ran upstairs faster than lightning.  
  
"Just kidding!" Scuttle shouted and laughed.  
  
"Oh great, Scuttle's watching us tonight." Wanda remarked, "As if one training session with that dimwit wasn't enough."  
  
"Scuttle's just a little wacky, that's all." Toad remarked, "And speaking of which, Bilby told us that Scuttle's trying to find the Martian Hop CD. Be sure to hide it real good."  
  
"It's already taken care of." Pietro replied, "I hid it somewhere he's never gonna look."  
  
"What did you do with it? Or do I wanna know?" Althea asked.  
  
"Since you asked, my fair lady, I flushed it down the toilet." Pietro replied.  
  
"Great going moron. Now the babies are gonna cry all night long." Althea replied.  
  
"Don't worry about it guys, I've got it on tape in my walkman." Scuttle remarked.  
  
"Oh great." Scott groaned, "Crazy soldiers, Misfits, crazier aliens. I really wish the Heartless would suffer for bringing them all around here. What more could go wrong?"  
  
A moment later Goofy came staggering downstairs, his fur poking off at weird angles from electrical shocks, "The horror! The horror!"  
  
"Trinity kinda got to Goofy." Donald explained.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Somewhere in Los Angeles: "Paul, what are those weird creatures with antennae we've been seeing walking around the studio at night." A sixteen- year-old boy began. He wore a black leather jacket over a black t-shirt and jeans and had a purple star over the right eye, just like Paul, his brother.  
  
His brother, wearing a garb in keeping with the trendiest '80s rocker, said, "I don't know Craig, but they don't look too friendly."  
  
"Shh. Someone's coming" Paul remarked.  
  
The two boys hid behind a dumpster as they saw a mustachioed man wearing an Australian bush hat and a zookeeper's coveralls. He didn't seem to be in cahoots with the creatures, because one of them stopped him and asked him something. The man said he was new to the job and didn't know where he was supposed to be. The creatures said that the abandoned movie studio adjacent to the animal enclosure was down the road and that he was in a restricted area.  
  
For a week now the creatures, the glowing eyed creatures with antennae, had been living around the abandoned movie studio, putting in equipment and other weird things. The guys with the red uniforms and helmets hadn't been particularly nice either and neither were the android things. Then there were people that were walking around, sporting black antennae, glowing eyes, and blackening limbs, but they didn't seem to look completely like those weird shadow creatures. They were kept in large steel cages in the larger buildings.  
  
What the hell were they? Somehow Craig and Paul figured that they weren't gonna like the answer whenever they found out what it was.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Flint, I'm seeing a van with California handicapped stickers on it pulling up about a few feet from the front gate." Bilby said over the radio.  
  
His crosshairs were centered on the van's back as the two Crimson Guards opened the back doors and helped a fellow wearing a hooded cloak out of the van. He seemed to have once been muscular, but had shriveled whether from age or disease Bilby couldn't tell. He looked familiar, as if he had seen the man before. A pair of glowing eyes appeared from under the hood. If that was a Heartless, it must've been some bizarre hybrid.  
  
"Hedaya, are you seeing this mate? This is freaky." Bilby replied.  
  
"Yeah." Hedaya replied.  
  
The man's hood fell away and though his eyes now glowed a faint yellow shade, all of his hair was missing, and antennae protruded from a mass of scar tissue on his forehead Bilby could instantly identify him. The shriveled, decrepit, half-Heartless thing was all that remained of Dr. Mindbender.  
  
"Flint, confirmation, we have Tier One Personality (COBRA leadership) entering the nest." Bilby said.  
  
"Good. Once we determine more about his hideout, we'll get the hell out and plan a mission to catch the bastard." Flint replied.  
  
In the back of his mind, Bilby could hear the voice of a character from his favorite video game, Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. It was the voice of the Necromancer, Moritanius, "You will have the blood you hunger for..."  
  
Bilby smiled an ironic smile, Mindbender was turning into one of the Heartless. The creator of perversions of nature, the one who created freaks was now becoming one that was dependent upon the very inventions he created.  
  
"Vae Victus." Bilby grinned, "Suffering to the conquered. Ironic now that you are the one suffering Mindbender."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Up next: More insanity. Intelligence gathering. And a run in with an amnesiac from University of Southern California... 


	29. Sea of Darkness

Sea of Darkness  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before. Time to get a little angsty, eh.?  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
For the second night that week Sally O'Connor woke up with another nightmare. This one involved the mustachioed fellow with the monocle again. Her entire body ached, particularly around her face. IV's were attached to her arms and leather straps held her to the gurney and.  
  
"Meow." The soft mewls of the kitten comforted her somewhat. It was Yuffie, her cat coming by her bed.  
  
"It's OK Yuff, I just had another dream." Sally replied. The cat snuggled against her, purring softly. Despite herself, Sally smiled as she tried to get some more sleep. After all her roommate had been worried she hadn't been sleeping well.  
  
The rest of the night passed uneventfully and since she had only afternoon and evening classes today she headed for the gym after nuking herself a frozen breakfast burrito. Throwing on her black warm-up pants and a T-shirt over her sports bra she picked up a small gym bag as she left her apartment.  
  
She walked inside the gym and noticed yet again those weird guys were back. They'd been there since last week, hogging the weight room and punching bags. They were always there in numbers and all of them had that symbol from her dreams over the past two months, the symbol of a Cobra's head, somewhere on their bodies.  
  
The way some of them stared at her was disturbing and worrisome. It was as if they had seen her before last week, though she couldn't remember any of them. Then there was the Australian guy that she would see in here, occasionally, hitting the heavy bags or sparring in the ring. Every time she saw him there was the strongest feeling of déjà vu, like she had seen him before.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Bilby tried not to look at the auburn haired young woman hitting the punching bag to his left. He was in that gym to try and pick up a little more intelligence on the COBRA presence in Los Angeles and how many Tier One personalities were involved. This chance run in with Sally O'Connor, the woman surgically altered and mentally conditioned to appear to be Akima was just a sad complication and a symbol of the misery COBRA and the Heartless brought about to this world.  
  
She smiled at him, the sort of smile one gives a stranger who suddenly has taken a mild interest. Bilby returned the smile and tried to look like he was busy working on his combinations. He was well into his second two minute round at the heavy bag when he saw one of the Crimson Guards who had commandeered this gym in all but name hitting on Sally. This Crimson Guard was being a tad overbearing, arrogant and thinking that he was entitled to her affections.  
  
"Hey mate." Bilby said, "It's obvious she's not interested."  
  
"What's it to you Aussie?" the Crimson Guard challenged.  
  
"Nothing really. I just don't think that's the right way to treat a lady." Bilby replied.  
  
"Alright. How about three rounds in the ring to settle it." the Crimson Guard said before Bilby shoved him against a wall, grabbed Sally's right arm and ran out of the building.  
  
"Who are those people? And more importantly who the hell are you?" Sally asked, trying to dislodge Bilby's grip.  
  
"I'll explain in a bit. But those blokes aren't exactly the friendly types if you know what I mean. They're Crimson Guards, the elite forces for COBRA. We're here to stop them, we're here to help, the less you know about us, the better." Bilby replied.  
  
"Wait, we can talk more in my apartment." Sally replied she wasn't sure why she trusted the Australian so much, but rarely when she listened to her gut instinct, was it ever wrong.  
  
"Good, I've got two of my team mates shadowing us. If those morons try anything, we've got a quick way out." Bilby replied as they walked into the apartment. Hedaya and D'Artagnan were waiting outside the apartment.  
  
It took a few minutes, but Sally was able to get past an initial feeling of disbelief because those COBRA people were real. But those other things that the three men described, the Heartless, that was really creepy.  
  
Sally was about to reply when a cylinder flew threw the apartment window. "Grenade!" D'Artagnan shouted, he picked it up and lobbed it back out the window where it exploded in midair.  
  
"Shit!" Bilby shouted, "Flint, we need extraction at these coordinates..."  
  
"On my way. I just pulled Lady Jaye and Recondo out with the intel we need. Head out back of the apartment." Flint relied.  
  
"Roger that." Nace replied.  
  
Another cylinder flew into the room and Nace kicked it down the hall, through the open door. It exploded into the middle of a half dozen Heartless. He pulled his 1911A1 pistol and started shooting. Hedaya and D'Artagnan did the same and led Sally out of the building.  
  
Another Heartless drone popped up from around a corner and Bilby put two more .45 rounds into its chest. Another popped out from around a corner with a mini-Uzi.  
  
"Cover me!" D'Artagnan shouted, as he pulled a golf ball sized mini- grenade from his pocket and lobbed it downrange.  
  
"Go! Now!" Hedaya shouted as Bilby ran with Sally and D'Artagnan out the back door with Hedaya covering the rear.  
  
The four people jumped into the car and sped away and waited for the Mass Device to take them back to the pit. It did so not a moment too soon, for a rocket-propelled grenade flew across the street, right where the car had been idling and exploded.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"So let me get this straight." Sally O'Connor said, "I'm living on ground zero of a major invasion by this COBRA gang and these weird Heartless guys."  
  
"Exactly." Hawk said.  
  
"And you're all a force trying to stop them. You're the good guys." Sally replied.  
  
"You hit the nail on the head Ms. O'Connor." Hawk replied.  
  
"Ok then, if you're the good guys, how on earth did you let those things get into LA like that?" Sally replied.  
  
"Ms. O'Connor, our forces are spread thin enough as is dealing with COBRA alone. The Heartless further complicate matters." Hawk replied, "They prey upon people who have lost hope, lost their hearts and places like South Central LA are perfect breeding grounds for these things."  
  
"Why did you take me here? Damn it! I've had enough of all this!" Sally replied.  
  
"It's been hard these past few months, hasn't it?" Hawk asked, "Nightmares and memories you aren't even sure are real? Memories you don't think you even experienced?"  
  
"How do you know?" Sally asked.  
  
"Let us help you Sally. And in return we ask nothing." Hawk replied.  
  
"Nothing?" Sally asked.  
  
"Absolutely. You've already given us everything we could possibly need to know about what's going on in Los Angeles." Hawk replied, "And in return we'll help you deal with everything you're being bothered with."  
  
"I - I don't know what to say..." Sally began, "But one more thing, I've been seeing those COBRA guys moving in since last month. It was very subtle. They started muscling in front of me in the checkout line at the convenience store, outright stealing things from the university labs, moving in on our gymnasiums..."  
  
"Don't worry, Ms. O'Connor, we'll get them out of Los Angeles. We're keeping an eye on the situation every chance we get." Hawk began, "Don't worry, the fact that COBRA's made this move means we can get at them. We just need to take them apart by dividing and conquering."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Chief Warrant Officer Peyton Farquahar flew his UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter around the area of South Central Los Angeles. To his left sat Chief Warrant Officer Dashiell Fairborne, also known as Flint. His usual co- pilot, 1st Lieutenant Ray Granger was flying with the other GI Joe pilot, Wild Bill, on the other side of town.  
  
Peyton was a Southern boy from Alabama with greasy black hair, the dignified manner of an old master of the plantation, and a trim and fit build. He was a cut up who enjoyed spot games of rugby, field ball, baseball and anything else physical. He was an idealist who enlisted on the eve of his eighteenth birthday and wound up a member of the 82nd Airborne Division. After two years as an aviation mechanic he put in for warrant officer candidate school and wound up a helicopter pilot with his old division. He later became a Night Stalker and to Peyton Farquahar, being part of a daring, hell for leather flying outfit was a dream come true.  
  
In the back were one Gamma operator, a sniper nicknamed Shades because of the distinctive Oakleys he always wore around. Keeping him company were about a half dozen Rangers led by Staff Sergeant Miguel Mendoza, a twenty- six year old former reservist who had been at the job for eight years but had not yet seen combat duty.  
  
"There, technicals at nine o'clock." Shades said, pointing out of the side of the cabin.  
  
"I see 'em Shades." Mendoza remarked, a Spanish accent mingled with a Texas twang, clear signs of a border town boy.  
  
Indeed, two Toyota pickups and an SUV with fifty caliber machineguns and loudspeakers mounted on them were driving up to a parking lot. A dump truck filled to the brim with all sorts of valuables ranging from big screen TV's, bags of cash, money, and appliances was being parked in a parking lot. The technicals were headed for that lot.  
  
Already dozens of LA's lowlifes, the bums that spent time in rags in the streets, the two bit drug dealers, the derelicts all flocked to this mountain of loot. Already the Heartless and COBRA troops at the lot were having trouble keeping back the mob, which was already making off with this loot stolen from selected wealthy individuals around Beverly Hills.  
  
The technicals ground to a halt outside the fence of the parking lot. Instantly the Heartless gunners started firing into the crowd. Those not killed or wounded by gunfire were most certainly injured by the mass stampede out of the lot by the survivors.  
  
"Oh shit! Do you see that!" Mendoza shouted, "Chief, we've got unarmed civilians getting shot down here!"  
  
"I got it Miguel, I don't think we can touch this." Farquahar replied, then he tapped his radio communication's switch, "Command this is Super Seven Four, I've got militia shooting up civilians down here, request permission to engage."  
  
Already the crew chief stood ready at his minigun and Shades had his telescope sighted CAR-15 aimed, with the Rangers having their weapons ready to fire as well.  
  
"Super Seven Four." Came the voice of Colonel Calvin Hudson, the air combat commander from his bird, Super Eight One, "Are you taking fire."  
  
"Negative command." Farquahar replied.  
  
"Super Seven Four, return to base, do not engage." Hudson's voice replied.  
  
Shades felt a shallow feeling in his stomach, one felt by his fellow passengers and crew aboard the helicopter. Such a waste, such a damn shame that so many innocent people lay gunned down by the Heartless. What he wanted more than anything else was to put a round through that machine gunner's head.  
  
Peyton Farquahar looked down, seeing at least thirty bodies lying on the asphalt. These sort of Gestapo type massacres were things he joined the Army to prevent and now his own Army was tying his hands to be the flaming sword of God, avenging the deaths of these innocent folk. He had seen the same thing when he had flown in with the evacuation missions to rescue the refugees of the world of Titan AE, and the initial extraction mission where an eight man Gamma team was reduced to one survivor named Corporal Martin Bilby.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
If Peyton Farquahar, flying at least 200 feet in the air thought the massacre looked gruesome from above, then had he seen it from the ground level, it would have been truly a gore fest worthy of any B-movie.  
  
Craig Starr shook his head, not so much as with pity but with a grim acceptance of harsh reality. These dudes with the antennae were simply the new gang in town and once he figured out how they worked, he could deal with them. Through his telepathic bond, he could tell his sibling Paul was not taking this too well. In fact his twin looked like he was set to throw up.  
  
They had seen the entire thing, heard the Heartless broadcast that the loot belonged to COBRA Commander, whoever he was, and then saw the Heartless gun down people in the crowd. Bodies and mangled parts thereof lay strewn about, uncared for and unmourned. Even when the meat wagon showed up, the jaded looks on the faces of the couriers gave further loan and credit to that expression.  
  
Paul looked stricken, sure those people were bums, derelict, guys who lived on the streets, but they didn't deserve to be gunned down like they were little more than common vermin one might discover in the darkened corners of one's own household. Whoever these guys were, they weren't an ordinary gang, because they seemed to be in control of Los Angeles. How they took the city without firing a shot was not a question two boys barely feeding and clothing themselves were all that qualified to answer.  
  
Then there were those creepy mutant hunter teams that were forcing the boys to move almost constantly. They had already captured several "local" mutants and street urchins and took them off to God knows where to do God knows what. In short, life in Los Angeles took a turn for the worse for the two boys...  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Sorry this one's a little short, I'm fighting a mild cold right now... 


	30. Fallen Shipmates

Fallen Shipmates  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before. Just a short angsty piece about Stith and Gune talking about their fallen friends. I'm going on vacation for a couple of days, I'll be back Sunday. And to clear up any confusion it's Armand's father that's French.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Cale." Stith said, an unusual gentleness in her voice, a sharp contrast to her rough tone, "What can I say? The Heartless have spread, and recently they shot up unarmed civilians in Los Angeles. Everything we worked so hard to build on New Earth, or Planet Bob as you liked to call it, is gone. It's a good thing that we managed to evacuate as many people as possible to another dimension. Hopefully in time we can use the blueprints of the Titan that Akima salvaged and hid away here on the Valkyrie to build another world for us."  
  
Gune said, "Why you not let Akima rescue Cale when he was captured?"  
  
"Gune, it was a trap. The Heartless would have killed us all if we tried to rescue Cale. I wanted to do it as much as you, but in the end we had to break Akima's heart to save her life. She was the only one who could unite all the resistance cells." Stith explained.  
  
The memory was gruesome to behold, Cale, when broadcast over the planetwide information grid looked like he had been through hell. Much of his narrow face was covered with bruises and cuts. One eye was swollen shut. His lips were puffy, and covered with dried blood. His hair was disheveled and blood and earth had long since congealed into it. He and two other leaders of the resistance captured alive were tied to poles and then a Heartless soldier fired rounds into their bodies, emptying a full magazine into each one as they read out their manufactured crimes.  
  
The door behind their little shrine opened just then. In walked Bilby, Lance, and a third fellow that Stith vaguely knew as D'Artagnan, one of the four SEALs in the hangar.  
  
"What's going on here?" Lance asked. The room smelled like incense and was lit by only a pair of candles flanking each portrait of which there were three. There was one of a blonde haired young man, another of an older, bearded fellow with brown hair, and the third was a young woman, with dark hair and some Oriental ancestry.  
  
"It's an old Mantrin ritual." Stith explained, "It's one where we remember those that went before us. We believe that our dead are not gone forever, they may be physically lost but their spirits remain and we believe that we should stay in contact with them. Hence this ritual of ours."  
  
Martin Bilby stopped in front of the portrait of the blonde man, Cale, "I wish I could have met you. Akima talked about you all the time and said that you really left an impression on her. She said you would be glad that she was able to move on with her life after you were gone. I took care of her as best I could but even I couldn't prevent what happened to her next. If only my unit arrived sooner..."  
  
Bilby headed over to Akima's portrait and left a small item beside it. "Akima, what can I really say to you now that I hadn't said when you were still alive? If there was ever question of whether I love you, I hope it has been answered. I really wish that fate hadn't been against us from the very start. I was going to plead exile as soon as we had driven the Heartless off. I wanted to stay on New Earth, or Planet Bob as Cale loved to call it, with you. I truly felt that I had found myself a home on your world and I wanted to live out my days there. Unfortunately fate decreed that I was not to do so."  
  
The small item was a necklace of some sort with a single decoration, an ornate and delicate representation of planet Earth. "I know this was a gift from Cale, and after the clasp broke a while ago I went over to a jeweler to get it fixed and the day I was gonna surprise you with it again your imposter was revealed." Bilby began.  
  
"If I could add a few words?" Lance asked.  
  
Stith nodded in reply, "Imposter or not, she had me fooled for the longest time. I really wished that it had been Akima and not a young woman forced to play the role against her will."  
  
"You and me both Stith." Bilby replied, "I'm gonna get Mindbender for that."  
  
"I guess technically I never really met you." Lance said, " But I speak for all the Misfits when I say you really grew on us. I never before met anyone brave enough to give Kitty a flying lesson, even if it was in a simulator. You really became kind of a big sister to all of us. Who would have thought you could have taken down Althea, Jean, and Wanda combined in a massive pillow fight."  
  
Walking in front of the bearded man's picture Stith started them off, "Corso, I don't know where to begin. You were a strong and loyal captain, more than that, you were a friend. I'm still miffed that you betrayed us to the Drej at first, but when you turned around, sacrificing your life to let the Titan do its work, you redeemed yourself."  
  
Bilby's words were more to the point, "I would have been honored to serve with you sir."  
  
The ceremony concluded and Bilby walked out of the Valkyrie with a little less heavy a weight on his heart than he had when he walked in.  
  
"I remember that day." Lance said, "It was one of those stupid little pillow fights we all used to get into. Akima loved those. Then we found her chain on the floor and handed it over to you."  
  
"Believe me mate." Bilby said, "I remember. I remember I took it over to the jewelers to get it fixed and the day it was ready to be picked up..."  
  
"I too have lost people I cared for." D'Artagnan replied, "It was good to know that I do not need to tackle it on my own."  
  
"What happened?" Lance asked.  
  
"The Destiny Islands," Armand replied, "That was my dimension, my world. It was a peaceful little paradise where children played during the day, and where life flowed at a slow and easy pace."  
  
The Frenchman smiled as he talked, his eyes getting a far away look in them as he talked of a place far away and lost, "The skies were almost always a sapphire shade of blue, the ocean almost always calm. We never heard of locks, keys, or burglar alarms on the Islands because we had everything we ever needed. Grandma Kairi always used to tell me about the Great Storm that swept everything away, but I never used to listen to that. To me the Heartless were something Grandpa Sora fought years and years ago before he passed away when I was sixteen. I always thought his story of the Keyblade was a bunch of crap."  
  
"Doesn't it bother you that it chose me?" Lance said, "Though why it did is something I question."  
  
"It doesn't." Armand replied, "Grandpa Sora said the Keyblade would always choose right. And it believes you are the next savior for this world."  
  
Armand's face contorted painfully when he next spoke, "Then the Great Storm returned, when I was seventeen. It destroyed the Destiny Islands yet again, scattered those of us who survived into the four winds. The Heartless again ravaged our shores."  
  
Armand saw every moment of that horrific day. He saw his next door neighbor, Riku, beaten savagely on the beach. The Heartless had dragged the old man from his hut and started to beat him with rifle butts and pieces of driftwood. They defiled and destroyed Sora's gravesite, finding only his remains but not the weapon they sought.  
  
"Mother! Father!" Armand shouted.  
  
"They've gone." Kairi shouted, "The helicopters are flying them out!"  
  
Indeed, several helicopters were touching down on a far off beach, taking what refugees they could before flying off into wherever they had come from. Over head more helicopters circled, firing rockets and cannon fire into the Heartless they saw.  
  
"Grandma! You must go! I will keep them away!" Armand said, taking up an aluminum baseball bat.  
  
"No Armand!" Kairi replied, a strength in her voice that defied the ravages of age and contrasted the normally gentle and nurturing personality that had reared three small children and four grandchildren into the world.  
  
His grandmother, Kairi, seemed to be possessed with an ancient strength stronger than the ravages of time for a mysterious weapon appeared once more in her grasp as she fought to save Riku. He did not see what occurred afterward, for he had been evacuated by a US Navy helicopter.  
  
As the helicopter flew off, Armand's tearful gray eyes looked toward a sky darkened by a sinister force, "I will find those of you who remain! And for those of you who have died, I will avenge you until the last breath has left my lungs..."  
  
"For six years now I have searched all the worlds I have traveled for any sign of those who survived the Destiny Islands." Armand added, "My search has found very few people who survived. My list of survivors is short and incomplete."  
  
Armand withdrew a picture from his pocket, it contained a picture of a younger version of himself with two other youths. One was a longish haired lad with oiled and slicked back brown hair with blonde highlights, the other was a young woman with shoulder length brown hair and a slender dancer's physique. "These are my closest friends, the young man's name is Gary Blucher and the woman is Jackie Harris. I grew up with them, played with them, went through so much with them, and then they were among the citizens listed missing. My search goes on."  
  
Armand gave a jaunty wave and walked off to the computer lab, where Mainframe was going to help him hack into a few computers to search for missing people. Bilby knew that little fact about his hangarmate since day one that he was searching for people but he didn't know the extent of the man's search until Armand told his heartbreaking tale.  
  
A jeep pulled up alongside them, containing Shades and Mario, "Hey fellas, need a lift?" Shades said.  
  
"Yeah, sure." Bilby replied.  
  
"You guys looks so glum, what's up?" Mario asked.  
  
"I just went through a memorial service for Akima. I'll be alright. I did find out we need to remember our fallen mates, no matter how painful it is." Bilby replied.  
  
"Wally was just one of 'em." Mario said respectfully. Shades looked just as respectful.  
  
"The Heartless took quite a few of our guys over time too." Mario explained to Lance, "Shades here lost quite a few buddies when he was with the 101st Airborne Division's LRRPs (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols)." "Don't worry, I can tell 'em." Shades said, his voice still even and calm, "There were seven of us that enlisted from my home town together. In three years, six of those guys were dead."  
  
"What's a LRRP?" Lance asked.  
  
"Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols. They go out in teams of seven or eight guys with a couple radios and minimal arms and equipment, go deep into enemy territory and track down enemy forces to keep the main line units informed of enemy activity." Bilby said, "Very dangerous work, we lost a lot of good people on those ops."  
  
"Six of my closest childhood buddies got chewed up during those ops. They never saw the end of their three year tours of service." Shades began, "The first guy we lost, Ernest Wenseclas, just got on his first patrol. They were exfilling out of Heartless territory before they got bushwhacked by an enemy patrol. Ernest went down in a blast of gunfire when he was covering the pickup with his M-60. He was sixteen years old when it happened and I'd known him since kindergarten..."  
  
Lance felt a stab of ice cold dread inside, Shades, Bilby, Mario, Armand and people just like them had lost friends, relatives, and loved ones to this black plague he was fated by the choice of some magical blade to fight. Even under the sunglasses Lance could see Shades was visibly shaken by the loss of his six buddies to the Heartless. It seemed almost every single one of the guys in that Task Force had lost at least one person, a friend, a lover, a relative, or in the case of D'Artagnan a world.  
  
The attacks of self-doubt and fear were getting rare, but they still occurred. And hearing his new friends talking about their fallen shipmates was not helping any. The true extent of Maleficent's evil could be felt in the words of his friends talking of fallen comrades.  
  
"So many have died to stop you. If it has to be me, fine. I'll do everything I can to get rid of you and make sure no one else has to lose an entire world, or six of their good buddies, or someone they intended to spend their entire life with." Lance said, inaudibly. Somehow this galvanized him with a terrible resolve. He would do everything in his power to stop Maleficent, even if it meant his death.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Which it well might Alvers...." Maleficent began, standing in a dark, musty cavern, "Mindbender was too greedy and gave himself too willingly into darkness. My true link should be one who is stronger than that buffoon. Who will it be?"  
  
Maleficent ran her hand over the seeing stone and revealed the face of Raven Darkholme, better known as Mystique. "Ah, a strong willed personality that will not fall prey so easily to the darkness."  
  
Maleficent moved her hand yet again, showing the picture of a feeble, half transformed and mutilated Mindbender suspended in the green fluid from which noxious fumes arose.  
  
"I had high hopes that you would come through Mindbender, but your lust for power and greed ultimately condemned you to an unenviable fate." Maleficent said, "Perhaps you, Mystique, will show greater promise."  
  
"And what have we here, your weakness, Lance Alvers." Maleficent said, the image of Kitty Pryde walking along appeared on the wall, "You would be truly powerless to help her..."  
  
"Do not underestimate the power of love, Maleficent. For it was the love of Kairi that enabled Sora to defeat you the first time..." the voice of a disembodied soul sounded.  
  
That soul was connected to a mirror on the wall behind Maleficent, it was an oracle who's quest for forbidden knowledge earned him only the right to be enclosed for all eternity in the glass confines of the mirror. The King could only find a fate so perfect for a man who was consumed by his desire for knowledge, granting him his dream and yet confining his essence to an inanimate object who's only power was an eye that pierced all forms of cover. That man's name was Ansem. The father of the Heartless. 


	31. Capturing Dr Mindbender

Capturing Dr. Mindbender  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before.  
  
RogueFanKC: Kudos for recognizing the Three Musketeers Tie In. (DC3 D'Artagnan.)  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Bilby set his L1A1 SLR atop an old table in a room of the abandoned apartment building across from the complex where Dr. Mindbender was holed up. COBRA had made a huge mistake by occupying Los Angeles, they gave up the advantage of concealment and apparently had been strained for resources by moving a vast quantity of troops and Heartless drones to hold the place.  
  
The snipers had moved into position about five hours before the assault was scheduled to begin. Bilby and Hedaya's hide was at the topmost floor, and two large holes in the wall provided convenient firing hides. Windows were not really the best places to shoot from, because even if a sniper stayed well away from them return fire would naturally be directed towards such an easy loop hole. Therefore, the smaller holes in the wall in the upstairs room provided ideal firing ports.  
  
Shades and Mario were covering the rear area escape routes from the maze of construction atop the arboretum. It was a building with an ornate enclosed foot bridge that crossed over the access road that the second sniper team was interdicting. Mario had his telescope sighted M-14 set up on the left side of the bridge with Shades setting his CAR-15 on the right. The two snipers had an overlapping field of fire to pick off anyone that tried to either escape or attack the assault forces from behind. Any COBRA or Heartless adversary would be dealing with a round through his head if he attempted any sort of maneuver.  
  
Scuttle had the massive M82A1 fifty-caliber sniper rifle on the roof of another adjacent structure to the compound. Of the four SEALs Scuttle was the top marksman and most experienced sniper, having gone through the US Army sniper school in Ft. Benning, Georgia. His partner, QM1 Wassner, was not as well schooled, but having been brought up hunting in the forests of Bavaria, was a natural shot. Scuttle had the task of disabling all the vehicles in the COBRA vehicle parking lot beside the compound as well as taking out targets of opportunity.  
  
As soon as they saw the helicopters make their passes the snipers were to open up immediately. In the C2 (Command and Control) bird, Col. Calvin Hudson wiped sweat from his brow as he waited for the nineteen aircraft in the strike force. Four AH-6 Little Bird helicopters would provide gunship support, with another four MH-6 Little Birds with benches welded to their sides carrying four man Gamma assaulters, and eight UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, two carrying more Gamma assault units and four carrying twelve man Ranger chalks. In addition another Black Hawk, Super Eight Two, was flying a circuit as the rescue bird, carrying a dozen Rangers and Gamma assaulters whose task was to protect the two Air Force pararescue personnel from rude strangers while they stabilized any injured personnel around a crash site. Cal Hudson knew those boys on Eight Two were well trained and ready to go, but he also hoped to God to never have to use them, because he knew that lives would be further imperiled by a crash. He knew, for all the rivalry with the Air Force, the two pararescue men were more than qualified, the daredevil medics were specialists at rescuing downed and injured aircrew. Already they had some action seen in LA, when two Heartless shadows shot down a news helicopter flying over the downtown area. Eight Two held the Heartless, COBRA troops, and curious civilians at bay long enough to extract two wounded camera crew members, the pilot, and the reporter. He hoped that those brave lads aboard the rescue bird weren't gonna have to defend an Army crash site.  
  
Bilby centered his crosshairs on the head of a lone Crimson Guard sentry walking his post behind a sandbag bunker. Hedaya had his own sights on the soldier Heartless manning the RPK machinegun in the bunker. From their position they could cover the entire front end of the complex. Mario and Shades could cover the back and right side of the complex with their fields of fire so that Scuttle and Wassner could deal with the vehicles in the parking area without any distractions.  
  
Scuttle's sights were on a lone soldier Heartless standing behind a recoilless cannon mounted atop a Toyota pickup truck. Wassner's sights were roaming, his magazine loaded with tracers to give Scuttle some help with picking targets.  
  
The silence was eerie, the tension palpable as five minutes prior to the launch of the mission the snipers flicked their safety catches from off to on. Suddenly it was shattered by the sound of rotors. The helicopters were on their way.  
  
"All sniper teams commence fire." Came the order. But the snipers already engaged their targets.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Surprise. That was the only word that could grasp the closest thing to emotion the Shadow Heartless felt as the Soldier Heartless standing on the recoilless literally lost its head in a shower of black blood. Before the Shadow Heartless could move two paces to trigger an alarm, another round took it out.  
  
"Nice shooting Scuttle!" Wassner said, as he fired into another crowd of COBRA vipers running to investigate.  
  
"QM1, buy me a beer when we get back to base but please shut up!" Scuttle growled as he took out the Toyota's engine with a second half-inch diameter bullet. He disabled about half a dozen more vehicles with single shots before he reloaded another magazine and joined Wassner in picking off targets of opportunity.  
  
All around the compound guards started to fall as the snipers opened up with lethal precision. Bilby's round took down the Crimson Guard sentry and before the body even hit the ground, Hedaya took out the machine gunner nearby him. The report of Hedaya's weapon, thanks to the suppressor on the end of the barrel, made the report sound almost like a BB gun firing off.  
  
Shades and Mario opened fire about a half second after both Hedaya and Bilby, and Wassner and Scuttle's teams went into action. Mario's first round shot down a lone Heartless shadow walking along the fence line. Shades put a bullet through the head of another Heartless that appeared around the corner, one that had escaped Scuttle and Wassner's kill zone.  
  
A Large Body Heartless appeared around the corner and Mario turned his rifle toward it, only to see its head explode apart. Scuttle had scored another kill. They could hear a lot of shooting coming from Wassner and Scuttle's positions just as the two AH-6 Little Birds flew over head with the four MH-6s in tow. Like lightning the Little Birds dropped their teams at prearranged sites around the building while the two Black Hawks containing more Gamma assaulters started taking down parts of the compound out of the snipers' field of vision.  
  
"This is Star Four Two, reporting an RPG team atop target building." One of the helicopter pilots said over the radio.  
  
"Not anymore!" Scuttle said, after two rifle shots sounded. The two Heartless with a rocket propelled grenade launcher trying to shoot down a helicopter literally came apart as Scuttle drilled them with fifty caliber bullets.  
  
As the assaulters hit the dirt a perimeter was being set up by placing four twelve man Ranger chalks around an area the size of a city block. Half a block away a convoy to extract the prisoners, assaulters, and combat elements was already in place and consisted of nine wide bodied Humvees and three five ton trucks with motors idling and carrying more Gamma operators, Rangers, the two remaining SEALs and two Air Force Combat Controllers.  
  
Cover Girl sat in the cargo Humvee as a driver. Beside her was EMC Brewster, manning the radio and maps. Manning the fifty caliber machinegun was DC3 Armand D'Artagnan and the fourth was Air Force Combat Controller, Staff Sergeant Brian Halb, an expert at directing precision air strikes, extractions and clearing landing zones. Sitting on the other side of the back seat was Staff Sergeant David Falk. The convoy commander, a solidly built, square jawed man, Lieutenant Colonel A.P. "Goat" Ayden, so named because he graduated last in his West Point class, was in the lead Humvee. That was two vehicles ahead of the cargo Humvee and four in front of the trucks that would hold the prisoners and their guards.  
  
Cover Girl blew a kiss at Shipwreck, driving the Humvee behind her. "Hey there's a place for that sorta thing." Grinch remarked from the seat next to Shipwreck. Corporal Hector Illario smiled to himself standing in the turret where the MK-19 automatic grenade launcher was mounted. Shipwreck and Grinch were going at it again, as they usually did whenever they mixed. Illario was a 20 year old Filipino with an easy grin who had graduated from high school in Daytona Beach, Florida with a 3.89 GPA and a 1400 SAT. To his parents horror he decided to take a sabbatical by joining the Army right after his eighteenth birthday. He smiled again as Sergeant Dominic Rossalvo threw him a jaunty thumbs up from the lead Humvee. Illario returned the gesture as he heard the sniper teams and the Gamma assaulters raising hell inside the target building.  
  
His fellow Rangers were in position and trading shots with a small group of Heartless. 1st Lieutenant Drake was commanding the twelve man chalk with Staff Sergeant Mendoza as second in command at the Southwest corner of the perimeter, closest to the convoy. He heard an M-60 going off and knew that Corporal Frank Hockle, a lanky little guy from Minnesota, number three of Company K's quartet of hell raisers, was out there. Sergeant Dominic Rossalvo led the hellraisers and the fourth member was Specialist Mike Stoty, a SAW gunner and a stocky little former NYU business student from the Bronx, New York City, New York.  
  
Even with that half a dozen Heartless contingent he had just mowed down, Frank Hockle found this entire mission to feel like a massive let down. The Heartless didn't seem to be putting up the epic mother of all battles the Rangers had been expecting. The Heartless seemed to be weakened by the previous missions of the Gamma detachment led by Captain George Canby Fetterman and the efforts of GI Joe and the Misfits. It seemed the Task Force was just along for the mop-ups.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Dr. Mindbender's nerves were too deadened to feel anything even closely approximating terror. As of forty-eight hours ago, the many largely experimental treatments he had developed conspired to render him both immobile and sterile. His chief researchers had warned him that if treatment were to continue he would have less than six weeks life left to him. The alternative was to allow nature to run its course and allow the transformation into a Heartless. But that was the last thing Mindbender ever wanted.  
  
Even now as he heard the Crimson Guard and those accursed Shadow drones dying all around him, that fear was all but gone. With the last of his strength he hauled himself out of the chemical bath and dragged himself along towards his life support rig. He put it on and made sure all of his notes on his life prolonging methods were on his person. He didn't think to evade capture, for it was inevitable.  
  
This was further shown by the door being kicked down and a cylindrical object flying into the room. All the cylinder did was explode in a bright, disorienting flash, as it was designed to stun any occupants of the room in question. The explosion blinded and deafened the already weakened scientist. Gamma Unit operators suddenly appeared in a cloud of smoke, grabbing the already stunned scientist and two of his guards and heading out of the building. ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Colonel." Ranger Sergeant Neil Carson shouted, "Gamma Extraction force ready."  
  
"Alright! Let's move out!" Ayden shouted.  
  
As the familiar Queens accent sounded shout resounded several more Rangers repeated the command on down the line. "Move out!"  
  
The convoy moved forward, firing at the occasional lone Heartless gunman or COBRA viper, but encountering little opposition. Within three minutes the compound Dr. Mindbender occupied had been completely taken down, the COBRA and Heartless personnel within either killed or captured.  
  
The Gamma assault unit, led by Sergeant Major Cavendish, the Squadron Sergeant Major, came out with five prisoners, including an extremely ill Mindbender. As the assaulters moved in, the snipers provided cover for them. The Rangers had begun to withdraw back into the convoy, leaping aboard vehicles in an orderly manner, while fast and accurate sniper fire heavily discouraged pursuit. It is a known fact that infantrymen will not press the attack if they know or have any sort of inkling that they are under the scrutiny of a telescopic sight.  
  
First Mario and Shades began their withdrawal with Wassner and Scuttle getting ready to travel. They got into the cargo Humvee as Wassner and Scuttle suddenly broke off toward the second Humvee behind the lead. Then Bilby and Hedaya made their withdrawal, jumping into one of the five-ton trucks.  
  
The convoy sped through the streets of Los Angeles, firing a wall of flaming lead at any sign of resistance. A technical, the same vehicle that had been involved in the massacre of several Los Angeles civilians tried to attack the convoy, only to take three 40mm grenades from Illario into it's fuel tank. The technical exploded in a fireball that threw the corpses of half a dozen Heartless across the terrain.  
  
"Absolutely bad ass dude!" Stoty exclaimed as he hopped into the lead Humvee with Hockle and a couple other guys from his chalk.  
  
Bilby's expression was unreadable, save for the stony glare he gave Mindbender. "You, my friend, have a lot to answer for." Bilby said, voice devoid of any emotion, save for a searing hatred.  
  
Mindbender stared at the apparition in desert fatigues and wearing an Afrika Korps field cap. If only he were capable of physical exertion that would convince the Australian that his life was in danger, then he would obtain the ultimate release. All he could do was manage a sharp-tongued reply that was greatly softened by the raspy, coughing tone his mangled vocal cords could muster.  
  
"I altered a person to resemble your lost love. The least you could do is thank me." Mindbender replied.  
  
"I normally would thank you with a bullet between the eyes. But that's what you'd want, isn't it? The ultimate release. Well how ironic, the creator of freaks and monsters is becoming that which he created." Bilby replied.  
  
"To what have I degenerated into? Only a frail, hollow shell of a man." Mindbender lamented.  
  
"If you even were a man to begin with." Bilby said, drawing more than a slight pleasure at the decrepit, frail and pathetic sight the slowly dying Mindbender presented.  
  
"You enjoyed her company didn't you?" Mindbender taunted, "You must have enjoyed countless little moments...."  
  
"What's he talking about man?" Sergeant First Class Cass Garner, the medic, asked.  
  
Hedaya explained everything that had happened to Bilby regarding Akima for the past few months. Cass Garner's eyes widened and then narrowed, "You monster. Don't you know that the first phrase of the Hippocratic Oath is do no harm."  
  
"He hardly cares Cass." Bilby replied, indicating Mindbender, who was even now shriveling into a tiny ball, a fetal position. Antennae began to grow out from his forehead.  
  
"Perfect fate, don't you agree?" Hedaya recalled, "What you did to Sally O'Connor was just the straw that broke the camel's back."  
  
The rest of the ride passed quickly, with only the occasional bit of conversation between the Gammas and SEALs and the multitude of excited Rangers, many of whom just completed their first combat operation. As they drove by, Grinch wondered how long this gung-ho Hoo-ah spirit would last when the Rangers started taking casualties. Just because this mission had been easy, it didn't mean the mission to take out the next COBRA kingpin was going to be the same. That was something their young support troops (average age, nineteen) were failing to realize.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Next a little lightheartedness and humor thanks to one of Psyche Out's brilliant ideas. 


	32. Take a Break Dude

"Take a Break Dude..."  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
The balmy tropical breeze felt exquisite on the face of the traveler as he surveyed his surroundings. The Destiny Islands shone radiantly in their exquisite beauty. Verdant greenery, sapphire blue skies, lapping waves from a crystalline clear sea. The homes, while appearing crude, almost like Robinson Crusoe and his ilk had constructed them, were comfortable and nurturing. A warmth greater than anything the traveler had experienced washed over him in waves. He was finally home. Everything he loved and cherished was before him in its pristine beauty.  
  
Birds played in the skies and dived into the ocean searching for fish. Sea turtles popped their heads up over the waves like school children while dolphins leaped gracefully like festival dancers. The traveler, named Armand D'Artagnan, let the peaceful warmth wash over him like a soothing balm. This is how it would feel, how it would feel when his beloved Destiny Islands were restored to him once more, when the Heartless were driven away and worlds consumed restored once more.  
  
This is what Armand desired more than anything else in the world. He wanted to put down the sword, beat it into a plowshare, and live out the idyllic and peaceful life he had known before.  
  
Waking from that dream was the hardest part, for he knew that the Destiny Islands were consumed by the ravages of the Heartless, its people missing and scattered beyond the four winds, the life that once lived in them suffocated by the eternal night.  
  
At least this dream beat some of the others he normally had. These were the night terrors, dreams of the countless lives he had ended in the six years since. Ever since he joined the SEAL Teams, D'Artagnan had taken part in many missions, many of which had resulted in firefights. Because the people of the Destiny Islands had an inherent respect for life killing Heartless haunted D'Artagnan's dreams. He fought for his teammates, men who became more than friends, but practically family to him, and for the memory of his beloved homeland. Armand knew he wouldn't stop fighting, and he also knew that the dreams would never cease. He would relive the sight of Heartless he had seen and killed time and again, when they realized their final moments were to be lived in front of his shotgun. He had lost track of how many he had slain, but because he specialized in close quarter combat, he could remember many of those fights in graphic detail.  
  
He could remember one particular Soldier Heartless that had tried to pull his weapon on him two years ago.  
  
"Time to see Psyche Out." Armand groaned. Because he had gotten into an altercation with Beach Head for being a hardass prick over his use of GI Joe's computer resources to find his people.  
  
"There are more constructive things you could use that for." Beach Head began before Scarlet and about half the control room restrained D'Artagnan, knowing his devotion to his people outweighed almost any other loyalty.  
  
He reported into Psyche Out's office, "Sorry I'm late."  
  
"No prob. Let me guess, nightmares again?" asked Psyche Out.  
  
"Not really. I dreamt of something pleasant for a change." Armand began.  
  
"The Destiny Islands?" Psyche Out asked, "I do wonder why someone who lived in such a paradise would have such rage?"  
  
"You didn't lose your paradise." Armand began.  
  
"Can you tell me about one of your flashbacks, maybe I can help you from there?" Psyche Out suggested.  
  
"It was a rescue operation. One of our surveillance choppers had gone down over Heartless territory. We were sent to rescue the air crew." Armand began, "We found three of them buried in a shallow grave out back."  
  
As Armand spoke, his tone became more haunted, "We broke down the last door and right in front of me stood a Soldier Heartless. I tried to make it surrender but it raised it's weapon, still stained with blood from the executed fliers. He got a chest full of double aught buckshot from my shotgun for his trouble. It flipped the creature onto its back, but it still raised its AK-47. I ran after it, chambering another shell and blasting it again. Not all of my shells hit their target, even at close range, but those that hit proved devastating. I kept putting more shells into the shotgun as I chased this particular demon down. Its kind had destroyed my home, killed or scattered my people, and I was imbued with little more than a primitive desire for vengeance. One of its arms was hanging from a shred of torn muscle and skin, its right leg was blasted nearly off, and there was more buckshot than bone in its body. It still tried to shoot me when I put my last shell through its face. I had used up all fifty of the shotgun shells I had on me and it felt good to kill the bastard."  
  
"Many of the soldiers here have flashbacks like that." Psyche Out began, "But this bothers you in a different way, right?"  
  
"On the Destiny Islands, we were taught to respect life." Armand replied, "The way I practically murdered that Heartless sure didn't show it."  
  
"But you see it acceptable to defend life, don't you. After all your grandfather fought the Heartless." Psyche Out began.  
  
"Yes, but he didn't feel the burning need to kill the Heartless I feel every time I go into battle. I am sure nobody survived the Destiny Islands, or the Heartless attacks since." Armand replied.  
  
"I'm sure he did, he just had more control over it." Psyche Out said, "I'll tell you what. I guarantee you'll feel better by the end of today."  
  
"That's a long shot if I ever heard one. But I'll be a sport." Armand replied.  
  
"Good. That's the spirit." Psyche Out said, as he donned a kevlar vest, battle helmet, and assorted pieces of riot armor, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have an appointment with Wanda Maximoff to keep."  
  
Armand grinned, uneasily as he walked out of the clinic and towards a waiting jeep where Sergeant Bilby waited. "Well you took your sweet time getting here."  
  
"Had an appointment. Beach Head and I kind of had a heart to heart." Armand replied.  
  
"Bullshit, I was there, it was more of a fist to face from each of you then degenerated into a foot into balls session on your part." Bilby replied.  
  
"At any rate, I think that this Misfit Watch duty is gonna be a piece of cake." Armand replied.  
  
"Get ready for a journey over the edge of insanity, mate." Bilby replied.  
  
"I've already been there. Being Scuttle's roommate will do that to you." Armand replied.  
  
"Trust me, the Misfits make Scuttle seem normal." Bilby replied.  
  
"I'll bet you that nothing tops Scuttle in weirdness." Armand replied.  
  
"Deal, and the loser gets baby watch for a week." Bilby replied.  
  
"You're on." Armand replied.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Wormy! Good!" Baby Beaky squeaked as he began to chow down on some worms in the front lawn.  
  
"No! No!" Kitty Pryde shouted. She and Lance were assigned to stay behind and watch the babies while the others did some training. Shades and Mario, the other two men in the four-man detail assigned to protect the Misfits at any time were at the training session.  
  
"It's probably just a phase Kitty." Lance began, "Nothing big. The kid just loves to eat worms for some reason."  
  
"Bagga Whee!!!" Claudius shouted as he hurled a handful of mud at D'Artagnan.  
  
Lockheed and Polly were chasing an armadillo across the lawn. "Awk! Adam One Twelve, starting attack run! Awk!!!"  
  
Polly divebombed the armadillo which leaped into the air in terror only to be set on fire by Lockheed's flames. With a near audible boing the armadillo went flying through the air and landed in a tree branch.  
  
"Awk! I'm going in! Cover me Lockheed!" Polly began and dived towards the armadillo, leaving a streak of white on the armadillo's shell.  
  
Lockheed proceeded to set the armadillo on fire again and the creature leaped airborne landing right in the midst of Claudius and Barney. The two airborne menaces, Lockheed and Polly peeled off.  
  
"Awk! Danger zone! Danger zone! Awk!" Polly shouted, "Break away! Break away!"  
  
Both flew in tandem, banking to the left and into the sky. "You gotta admit, this is the only time I'd see an aerial dogfight in the back yard." Lance began.  
  
"La-ance...." Kitty began.  
  
Barney stared at the armadillo for a moment, then hefted his little whiffle bat and said, "BAT! BAT! BAT!"  
  
"No Barney! Don't do that! Besides the armadillo's too dumb to know that's a bat...There is a certain Russian who could stand a quick little English lesson though..." Lance began.  
  
"Don't even think about it." Kitty warned.  
  
"BAT!" Barney shouted and banged Lance on the head.  
  
"OW!" Lance shouted. Suddenly, Armand D'Artagnan, the normally stoic one out of the pair consisting of himself and Bilby started to laugh.  
  
"Merde (shit)." Armand began, "It is rare that I see such an entertaining sight."  
  
"Very funny!" Lance replied, "OW! Quit you!"  
  
"Maybe they were right. All I need to do is take a break." Armand thought to himself.  
  
"On the Destiny Islands the laughter of children was such a common thing to hear." Armand said, almost wistfully. He was so lost in the reverie and Lance and Kitty so lost in the care and feeding of two mutant toddlers that they failed to see the armadillo walk out of the yard with a wobbly, drunken walk.  
  
"Wuh! Wuh! Wuh!" the armadillo groaned as it staggered on two shaky legs into the woods.  
  
In a vortex of black smoke and haze it transformed into Maleficent, "Ooh! That stupid poop stain from that bird is gonna take a long time to wash out! And that stupid baby...What kind of dunderhead gives his baby boy a whiffle bat?"  
  
She could hear the three young people, the SEAL from the Destiny Islands, the brunette and the wielder of the Keyblade laughing about something. Maleficent staggered on shaky legs through a portal, thinking up all sorts of ingenious punishments for a flying dragon, an insane parrot, and a bat- wielding toddler.  
  
On the other side of the portal, COBRA Commander waited, sitting behind his desk with his arms folded, a smug grin under his mask. Maleficent fixed him with a venomous grin.  
  
"I see you couldn't handle half an hour around an under strength group of Misfits..." COBRA Commander grinned, noticing the bird poop and the bumps on Maleficent's head.  
  
"COBRA Commander, unless you want to be transformed into the serpentine equivalent of Richard Simmons you will shut up and give me some aspirin."  
  
"Will that be one or two tablets?" COBRA Commander replied, his smugness gone.  
  
"I don't care! I'm a sorceress, not a physician!" Maleficent shouted.  
  
"Note to self. Next time I try to kidnap Kitty Pryde, do it with an army in front of me. Or if I can't find volunteers use a helmet." Maleficent said to herself.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Up next: Armand gets some more quality bonding time with the Misfits. Bilby and Armand realize how lucky they really are despite all of what they've endured. And....  
  
Maleficent: Maybe I ought to transform Shipwreck into something...  
  
Ororo: Go ahead! I'll help. Maybe you should transform him into a lightning rod!  
  
Maleficent: Girl, you've got potential.  
  
Althea: Don't you even think about messing with my Dad.  
  
Maleficent and Ororo: Buzz off little bee...  
  
Althea: I'm warning you guys...  
  
Maleficent: (holds up a Shipwreck shaped voodoo doll) What's to stop me from putting a few pins into Daddy's day.  
  
Offscreen Shipwreck yells, "Ouch!" as pins are stuck all over the doll.  
  
Cover Girl: If you two even think for a second you're gonna get away with this...  
  
Maleficent: If you two manage to escape being tied back to back upside down over a pit filled with live scorpions I'll be amazed.  
  
Toad: (from a cage) She is a ninja you know...  
  
Cover Girl: I dare you to open that box at your feet.  
  
Maleficent: Foolish wench, nothing can stop Maleficent. I'll peer into your precious box and steal your warplans...  
  
Toad: Uh, SR, shouldn't you be doing something about this.  
  
SR: Hang on Tolansky, I'm thinking....  
  
Box opens up and out falls a tiny little teddy bear in a camouflage outfit with spit shined boots.  
  
Maleficent: HAH! This is your brilliant plan?  
  
Cover Girl: I'd give that back if I were you...  
  
Althea: (whispers) I've just about freed my left hand...  
  
Beach Head: (crashes through the walls of the Hollow Bastion) WHAT ARE YOU DOING HOLDING SERGEANT SNUFFLES!?!?!?! I'M GONNA KILL YOU ALL!!!! BANZAI!!!!!!!!!!  
  
The sound of bones, glass, and assorted magical implements being broken echoes through the air.  
  
Maleficent appears, with a black eye, two broken horns, her staff broken in half and wearing a neck brace and sitting in a motorized wheel chair.  
  
Maleficent: Do you have any idea how long its gonna take me to clean this place up? It took me twelve centuries to collect all of my magical paraphernalia. And Beach Head destroyed it all in twelve seconds.  
  
Cover Girl: Wow, a new record. It usually takes him fifteen.  
  
Maleficent: Why me? 


	33. Rum Cake, Tiny Terrors, and Quicksilver ...

Rum Cake, Tiny Terrors and Quicksilver Flambé  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before. Just a little bit of humor to kind of tone out the angst.  
  
RoguefanKC: You wanted more Maleficent torture, well here's some more...  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Lance laughed hysterically when he saw Pietro walk back into the house with a sour expression on his face, his hair singed and out of place, and his costume sporting several burnt spots. "Very funny..." Pietro growled.  
  
"I'll say. You got hit by the inferno in the Death Valley Obstacle Course, didn't you?" Lance laughed.  
  
"Yeah, who would have thought that Flint would be running training today. And ever worse that he talked Barbecue into running the pyrotechnics portion. Jeez what a grouch." Pietro complained.  
  
"Yeah, well you got what you deserved." Lance said, "You know, the roasted, plucked chicken look is an improvement..."  
  
"Why you!!!" Pietro began when suddenly Lockheed swooped down and set Pietro's costume on fire again, and then he chomped down on his rear end.  
  
"OWWWWW!!! He's biting my butt! He's biting my butt!" Pietro shouted, running around the house at high speed.  
  
"WAAAHHH!!!" One of the babies shouted, waking up suddenly both babies were awake.  
  
"Pietro! Lance! Keep the noise down over there, I just put these two down for their nap!" Bilby shouted from upstairs.  
  
"Where's Kitty? Maybe she and Lance can play house with the babies and....YEOWCH! Stop it you lunatic lizard!" Pietro shouted as Lockheed clamped his tiny jaws on his rear end.  
  
"That's a good question." Armand replied, "Unfortunately I don't know."  
  
Meanwhile Althea, Wanda, Cover Girl and now Kitty all stood on the hill overlooking Shipwreck's house with binoculars. "Do you think we should help them?" Wanda asked.  
  
"Nah." Althea replied, as something else caught fire, "Dad trying to cook causes a lot more damage."  
  
"Don't remind me." Cover Girl replied, "Shipwreck's worse than my old boyfriend when I was a model. He can't cook for shit."  
  
"Well he did make the Omelet Surprise this morning..." Wanda mused, "It was kinda good."  
  
"Compared to the stuff they served you at the asylum, I'm not surprised. Let's just say I never thought that shrimp, cayenne pepper, mushrooms, green peppers and a healthy dose of beer were omelet ingredients." Althea jibed, "Then again, Dad shouldn't have borrowed recipes from BA."  
  
"It's better than BA's Outback Soufflé, that's for sure." Cover Girl replied, "I thought Bilby was gonna kill BA when it exploded into the kitchen."  
  
"You should've seen him when he found out BA put Nickelodeon slime in the Bloomin' Onions." Wanda replied, "You'd think that BA had insulted his family or something."  
  
"OW! OUCH! YOU STUPID DRAGON!!!!" Pietro screamed as he ran out onto the front lawn with his butt on fire.  
  
Barney and Claudius were playing in the shallow part of the pool with D'Artagnan and Lance watching them. Claudius didn't need much supervision, but Barney had every sort of floatation device attached to him.  
  
"BANZAI!" Pietro yelled and jumped into the pool to extinguish the flames.  
  
Both babies started bawling again. "Now look what you did you moron!" Lance shouted.  
  
Fred, Toad, and Multiple were also playing in the pool. Suddenly BA walked into the backyard with a big plate of some sort of cake, "Well, here's some of my new recipe."  
  
"It's getting harder to avoid BA, now that he's doing the traveling food sampling bit between meals." Althea mused.  
  
"Wait, watch this..." Wanda said, watching the carnage soon to occur.  
  
"Pietro, try this cake." BA said.  
  
"Uh ah. Not after the BA's Outback Soufflé disaster..." Pietro replied.  
  
Blob said, "Can I have some?"  
  
"Sure, let me give it that last special ingredient." BA replied.  
  
"This I gotta see, Blob eating yet another of BA's recipes..." Pietro replied.  
  
"What is it?" Blob asked as Quicksilver edged in closer.  
  
"Quicksilver a la Flambé!" BA replied, and set the concoction on fire using a lighter with a magician's flourish.  
  
"Eyiieeeee!!!!" Pietro shouted and fainted dead away.  
  
A massive fireball shot into the sky, setting Pietro's butt on fire yet again. "OW! HOT BUNS! HOT BUNS!"  
  
"See, rave reviews and...Uh oh!" BA replied when he saw Pietro running after him with Barney's little whiffle bat.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"So where is this elite force of ninjas you say are gonna help me kidnap that pesky little Pryde girl?" Maleficent said to COBRA Commander.  
  
"They're in the gymnasium, I got them at a bargain price." COBRA Commander replied.  
  
"Oh God Forbid!" Destro groaned, "You know what happens whenever you try to make alliances with ninjas, they turn on you."  
  
"Don't worry, I stole the Baroness' credit card to pay these guys." COBRA Commander said as the trio walked into the gymnasium.  
  
"Ninjas! Fall in!" Ninja Leader shouted.  
  
"Hai!! Hai! Hai!!!" came the shout. About half a dozen ninjas were standing at attention before COBRA Commander.  
  
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" The ninjas shouted as they collided with each other trying to get into position.  
  
"These are the elite ninjas you were promising?" Maleficent said, astonished and then angry. Her face then contorted into an angry expression, "Do you forget what I taught you?"  
  
"I know." COBRA Commander said, "Never cross a sorceress..."  
  
"What do you expect for sixteen dollars and ninety five cents a head?" Destro replied, attempting to placate Maleficent.  
  
"Fine, I'll provide them transportation." Maleficent said and a portal appeared behind the seven royally mixed up ninjas.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"BILBY!!!" Came the shout, it sounded like Logan and Hank shouting.  
  
"What is it mate?" Bilby said.  
  
"I'd best come along as well. Lance and the boys can watch the kids perfectly." D'Artagnan said, "Whenever it involves the X-men its always bad news...From what I've seen anyway."  
  
The pair walked down the street to find Storm hanging upside down from a tire swing wrapped in about three fishing nets.  
  
"Y'know Storm," Bilby quipped, "Fishnet stockings are out of fashion."  
  
"Zounds! Geez, what a grouch!" Bilby shouted as he dodged a lightning blast, "What happened?"  
  
"Ta na na na na na na na na na na na! Batman!!!" came the all too familiar shout.  
  
"Oh God no!" Bilby said.  
  
"What happened?" D'Artagnan asked.  
  
"Somehow Stoney and Morgan got severely tanked." Bilby replied.  
  
"Speak of the devil." D'Artagnan said, seeing Stoney wearing his trademark loud tie dyed head band, a towel around his neck, and polarized sunglasses. Morgan wore a towel around his neck and a Mardi Gras mask.  
  
"Ta na na na na na na na na! Batman!" They shouted.  
  
"OK Batman and Robin." Bilby shouted, "It's time to go bust the Joker at the Misfit House."  
  
"Holy Rings of Saturn Batman, the Australian Tracker has spotted our number one arch enemy!" Morgan shouted.  
  
"Let us ask this humble man of the Outback if he's seen anyone else other than the demented, evil weather goddess..." Stoney said.  
  
Storm powered up. "Calm down Ororo." Hank said, only to be electrocuted.  
  
"OWWW! What did I do to deserve that?" Hank replied.  
  
Bilby made up some more nonsense to trick the Dynamic Duo back to the Misfit House and a couple industrial strength fishing nets Shipwreck had lying around.  
  
"Holy Josie and the Pussy Cats Batman, the Bayville Sirens want to abduct Baby Beaky and Claudius!" Morgan snapped.  
  
"Time's a wasting Robin, lets go head them off at the pass!!!" Stoney shouted.  
  
The pair double timed in step down the road, chanting, "Ta na na na na na na na na! Batman!!!!"  
  
"Oh boy," Donald groaned as he watched all this, "And these are supposedly the elite unit that has fought off the Heartless."  
  
"Gee Donald, I don't know. It seems like they've got a lot done." Goofy said, "(Hic) And I think those two got into BA's nice and tasty bum cake...(Hic)."  
  
"That's Rum Cake Goofy!" Donald shouted, and noticing Goofy had some in a doggie bag, "Mind if I have some?"  
  
"Sure Donald, go ahead, hyuck! That stuff is great hyuck!" Goofy replied.  
  
Little did either of them know that BA's rum cake contained more than just a healthy dose of rum baked into the recipe. It also had about four or five different types of spirits ranging from Smirnoff Ice, a few bottles of forty, malt liquor, and a couple quarts of moonshine. Even tasting it could get one tanked.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Five minutes later: Law sat in his police humvee with Order, other than writing the occasional parking ticket or playing meter maid, today was a slow day.  
  
"Aye Carumba Order, Just once I wish something would happen right about now...."  
  
Just then Stoney and Morgan came running by, chanting, "Ta na na na na na na na! Batman!"  
  
"OK, maybe boring wasn't so bad." Law remarked, "Maybe I'd best go drive over to the Motor Pool and see if Cross Country can't put in that CD changer..."  
  
Just then he saw Donald and Goofy disco dancing on the sidewalk, their fingers in the air in the John Travolta stance.  
  
"Ha ha ha ha Stayin' alive! Stayin' Alive!" Donald shouted, the singing drifting into the Humvee.  
  
"Oh God. BA served Rum Cake again?" Law replied, "I guess today's not gonna be too boring after all."  
  
Law parked his Humvee and watched the fun as Donald and Goofy started dancing around like they were in a bad remake of Disco Inferno. He saw Bilby and D'Artagnan laughing as well, standing about half a block away.  
  
Between laughs, D'Artagnan felt the warm fuzzy that he had only felt sporadically since the loss of the Destiny Islands. Bilby felt the same way, despite having lost Akima again.  
  
"Whoever said laughter was the best medicine sure wasn't kidding." Bilby said, wiping tears out of his eyes as Donald pointed his staff in the air and started shaking his groovy.  
  
"Oui, he sure wasn't." D'Artagnan laughed, "I haven't laughed this hard since Grandpa Sora's old stories about those two."  
  
"They're gonna get quite the morning after hangover, eh?" Bilby said.  
  
"From what Cover Girl was saying, BA's Rum Cake does that to everyone." D'Artagnan shouted as Bazooka came running down the road wearing nothing but his helmet and birthday suit.  
  
"YAHOO! PARTY NAKED!!!!" Bazooka shouted.  
  
"Be careful what you wish for." Law groaned as he started after the streaking Bazooka.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Next, COBRA Commander's ninjas attack and run smack into the Misfits, "Batman and Robin" and assorted other chaos...Keep them reviews coming. 


	34. Calling Home

Calling Home  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before. Just some slightly sentimental clutter that was in my computer files. I promise the Ninja attack is on the way...  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Shipwreck was glad that the two Air Force Combat Control guys had installed a second satellite phone system in his house. Lately the number of calls the Task Force guys made to their homes was making his phone bill shoot up like no tomorrow. At least with the sat-com they could make free calls, the guys on guard duty in his house.  
  
He was making another attempt to cook breakfast when he saw Chief Brewster walk in, and punch in a number, "Morning sweetheart, it's Dad. Things are going OK on deployment, congratulations on veterinary school, I wish I could've been at graduation. I know its been rough since mom left, but you've been strong about it. I'm glad you understand, its made these past few years easy for both of us."  
  
"OW! Damn frying pan!"  
  
"Shipwreck, you're supposed to touch the handle, not the round part of the pan." Chief remarked.  
  
"Very funny Chief!" Shipwreck replied, "Owww..."  
  
"Well, I gotta go back to work. I love you. Goodbye." Chief said, "That's my daughter, Kate. I've been in the Navy fifteen years now, and Kate's been the little trooper throughout that time. She was eight when I enlisted, leaving the business world to prove I was more than an economic consuming and producing animal but a man, to become a Navy SEAL. My wife left two years later, and I've been the single dad ever since. Thank God for her grandparents, my parents of course, to watch over her. I keep forgetting she's a grown woman now sometimes..."  
  
"God I hope my daughters grow up a bit before they reach twenty-three..." Shipwreck remarked.  
  
"Awk! Althea's more mature than her Dad! Awk!" Polly remarked.  
  
"Come here you!" Shipwreck said, chasing Polly with a rolling pin.  
  
Chief saw D'Artagnan walking down the stairs. He knew that the Frenchman was still searching for lost people from the Destiny Islands, he had been on the original mission that evacuated Armand and some others. "No luck this morning Chief." D'Artagnan said.  
  
The Frenchman's plight was heartbreaking. Many times he stayed up late, combing records, updating a Have You Seen Us web page, chasing leads, but finding few if any answers. Chief could count the number of holidays he had invited the Frenchman into his home on two hands.  
  
Chief handed the phone to Sergeant Hedaya who eagerly dialed up numbers. The Hispanic sniper was always calling home every chance he got. The others used to jibe him about that, but Hedaya took it all in stride.  
  
"Oh my God! Oh my God!" Hedaya said, he was practically speechless.  
  
"What's going on?" a sleepy Bilby said, staggering up from the couch. The ninja nonsense night had been a long, though humorous experience.  
  
"I'm a DAD!" Hedaya shouted, jumping through the air, nearly tearing the phone from the mounting in the wall, "I'm a DAD!!"  
  
He started dancing around the room with a very surprised looking D'Artagnan before skipping through the halls and waking up the entire household yelling, "I'M A DAD! I'M A DAD!"  
  
"Is he always this peppy? " Chief asked.  
  
"Not always, but usually he is." Bilby replied, rolling his eyes, "Then again, we'd never heard of Hedaya having children yet."  
  
"It's better than Scuttle having kids." D'Artagnan remarked.  
  
"Or Captain Jacobs." Chief remarked, referring to the football obsessed Ranger company commander.  
  
"Or Beach Head having kids." Bilby replied.  
  
"You should be shot." D'Artagnan remarked, "Now I'm gonna have a mental picture of a million little baby Beach Heads running around."  
  
"One is enough." Bilby remarked, "Now I'm creeped out."  
  
"You two are a bunch of sissies, a bunch of Baby Beach Heads is nothing to worry about...." Chief remarked when he heard a shout.  
  
He saw four Rangers, Hockle and Stoty if he wasn't mistaken followed by Illario and Rossalvo, Sergeant Dominic Rossalvo was holding an all too familiar teddy bear.  
  
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HOLDING SERGEANT SNUFFLES!!!!!!" Beach Head shouted.  
  
"Maybe you two are right, for once." Chief remarked, "Beach Head's really gone off the deep end over this Sergeant Snuffles matter."  
  
"Yeah, when those Ninjas came running from the house and the insane kids, which I'm glad are all out cold today they ran smack into D'Artagnan's shotgun and Beach Head going berserk when they accidentally took Sergeant Snuffles." Bilby replied.  
  
"According to Cover Girl and Shipwreck, the GI Joe Talent Show was a complete disaster due to the theft of said item." D'Artagnan added.  
  
The Ranger squad that had been acting as a roving patrol to keep an eye on Shipwreck's house stopped by. Sergeant Scott Whalen, a twenty-five year old Ranger from London, England who in his younger days was one great hell raiser. He met Julia, his current girlfriend in college. They had both flunked out by freshman year, second semester. Both decided to straighten up. For Julia it meant taking a low-level job with an advertising agency in London and for Scott it meant the Army. He fingered the small gold band on his ring finger, he had been engaged to Julia for nearly a year. This surprise deployment and its preceding work up cycle had meant he hadn't seen her for over eight months. Weekly long distance phone calls didn't count either.  
  
"Phone's all yours, I'm gonna try to contain our future Daddy right now." Chief said, reading into Scott's expression. The phone in the hangar was almost always in use, and Scott usually found himself waiting to make calls to England. Julia, luckily, understood about all this, but daily Scott was in a quandary. He was torn between not hearing her voice for weeks at a time and feeling lonely and miserable and hearing her voice occasionally on a phone in a crowded living area and feeling lonely and miserable.  
  
"You'll get used to it buddy." Chief said, giving the Ranger sergeant a pat on the back.  
  
"Thanks Chief." Galen replied, looking a death and daggers look at Illario who usually liked to make funny little jibes at him.  
  
"Julia?" Galen said, "I'm glad I caught you before you go to work today...."  
  
"Damn it." Galen groaned, it was the answering machine again, "Look sweetheart, I called to say I love you, I miss you, and I really want to hear your voice again. I'll try to call back later. Scott."  
  
"Boy I'm glad I'm not getting hitched..." Illario remarked.  
  
"You gotta find a woman that'll stand you first Illario." Bilby remarked at his old friend.  
  
"Remind me to get this guy later." Illario remarked, "I mean, he's worse than Payback ribbing on me."  
  
"Who's Payback?" Galen asked.  
  
"He was a guy in our old division. He worked with the LRRPs (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols) as a rifleman/radio operator. His real name was Marv, but no one called him that. He lost his world to the Heartless years ago..." Bilby replied.  
  
"This Payback fellow, he doesn't happen to have brown eyes, dark hair, with a tan islander's complexion who always wears a shark tooth pendant and has scars from a shark attack on his right forearm, does he?" D'Artagnan asked.  
  
"Why, yes he does." Bilby replied.  
  
Armand smiled, a toothy grin, a real grin of genuine triumph and happiness, "You just found one of my friends from the Destiny Islands. Marvin Weims, he used to live across the street from me. Where is he now?"  
  
"Last I heard, he's still with the LRRPs in the 25th Infantry Division." Bilby replied, "They should get back from deployment tomorrow."  
  
"I'll be damned." D'Artagnan replied. He walked off with a notable spring in his step, feeling hope for the first time that more people had survived the Destiny Islands' destruction. Now he could find the fates of others when Marv got back, he could pump him for information on the missing and see what he knew.  
  
Scott Galen walked towards the door while Armand D'Artagnan went on to the front porch to clean his trusty assault shotgun. Galen sat down on the other side of a long bench, a New York City park bench that Shipwreck light fingered from Central Park years ago.  
  
"So, D'Artagnan, do you have a girl back home." Galen said. Most of the Rangers were in their teens and early twenties, and thus didn't really relate as well with the older fellows in the hangar like himself. The Gammas, SEALs, and Air Force Spec Ops guys were a little older, but intimidating, like the hulking, battle hardened Grinch. D'Artagnan seemed the most approachable out of the four SEALs.  
  
"No." Armand said, "I'm not really sure what we were back then..."  
  
Armand's mind drifted back years to the peaceful Destiny Islands. He could see her perfectly now, in his mind's eyes. Jackie Harris, one of his good friends, someone he always competed with Gary for her attention. Her chestnut brown hair glistened in the sunlight, her brown eyes thoughtful and compassionate, her kind-hearted exterior concealing a stronger personality. Armand knew that the word beautiful would only begin to describe her. She had been among the missing since the loss of the Destiny Islands.  
  
"Were you friends?" Galen asked. D'Artagnan felt comfortable talking to the man, he knew he had found a friend in Sergeant Scott Galen, "Had you two ever kissed? Made out? Or anything?"  
  
"We were friends, yes, but no to the other two questions." Armand replied, his voice growing sad, "I never really had the chance to find out how she felt about me. The Heartless destroyed our world before I could begin to find out. Now I don't even know if she's even alive anymore."  
  
"Don't give up hope man." Galen said, "Love is a splendid thing, wonderful and uniting hearts together. You'll find her again and when you do, you'll have someone to call."  
  
"I hope so." Armand replied, "I really hope so."  
  
As he fingered his engagement band Galen said, "I do hope Julia picks up the phone, I've been wanting to hear her voice for nearly three weeks now, but whenever I try and use the sat-com phone in the hangar some other guys using it or she's not home."  
  
"Tell you what," Staff Sergeant Mendoza, who had been hanging around listening to the two talk for a while, "Next time I'm up on the phone, I'll call you over and you can talk to your fiancé."  
  
"Thanks Miguel, I owe you one." Galen said.  
  
"Don't mention it." Miguel Mendoza replied, "But since you insist, how about drinks at the e-club."  
  
"Gotcha mate." Galen replied, his pasty complexion set in a grin.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Up next: I know I promised humor, but this idea hit me for introducing some more minor characters and showing more of their personalities. 


	35. Ninja Nonsense

Ninja Nonsense  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before. This is what happened the night before the chapter Calling Home...  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Ready to sneak into the house.?" Ninja Leader asked. His six followers nodded, a motley assortment to be sure, but when you've been kicked from your clan, you need all the help you can get. And looking at his "help" Ninja Leader was sure he'd have been better off alone.  
  
They were about to start their ridiculous little "Hai! Hai! Hai!" chant before he kicked one in the stomach.  
  
Three of the ninjas snuck in through the roof, the other three through the basement. Little did they know, though their arrival was not anticipated, that mayhem in all its guises was about to erupt...After all, they were storming the Misfit home...  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Evening sir," Bilby said, when he saw Flint walking with Lady Jaye, "What keeps you up this late?"  
  
"I might ask the same of you soldier?" Flint replied, "When was the last time you got any real sleep?"  
  
"I've gotten sleep sir." Bilby replied, he was wearing his dirt brown Phil Collins t-shirt and black shorts, "I'm just out to keep the old edge sharp and pointed."  
  
"Bullshit, sergeant. I've seen you up and about at all hours at night. It's as plain as the bags under your eyes, something's been eating at you." Flint replied.  
  
"There's nothing wrong with me sir." Bilby protested, "I'm operating at normal capacity..."  
  
"No you aren't." Flint added, "It's not just us, your team mates have seen it. You're pushing yourself way too far."  
  
"It wasn't easy was it?" Jaye said, compassion in her voice.  
  
"I've recovered." Bilby replied, a hard edge to his voice that matched his sunken eyes and six-day beard stubble.  
  
"She touched my life too Bilby." Jaye added.  
  
Bilby turned, and both Flint and Jaye could see in the man's eyes weeks of searing agony that had torn away at the foundations of his soul. Losing Akima hadn't been easy on Bilby, and he seemed to have been dealing with the pain since then.  
  
"Bloody prophesies. That stupid sacrifice! And no minging Keyblade to show for it!" Bilby shouted angrily.  
  
Boom! The sound echoed across the Pit as if it were the sound stage for an opera. "Thunder and not a cloud in the sky, strange." Flint remarked.  
  
"Flint that sounded like an explosion." Lady Jaye remarked.  
  
"AN EXPLOSION!" All three of them shouted together and ran in the direction of the blast.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Ninja Leader watched silently, hanging from the rafters of the roof of Shipwreck's house as Team A, the team that was combing the downstairs level of the house combed silently. Team B was combing the upstairs, trying to locate where that Pryde girl was sleeping. At least the idiots were keeping silent this time around.  
  
One of the ninjas took a freeze dried fish, which was his weapon, strapped across his back and raised it to knock out the strange little green creature with the half closed eyes sitting at the table. Suddenly the alarm clock that was being taken apart on the table went of with a loud Salsa song.  
  
"Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot!" the alarm clock blared.  
  
The kangaroo like alien sleeping in the corner woke up, "Gune, one of these days I'm gonna have to duct tape you to the couch so you don't start inventing things in your sleep...What the hell!?"  
  
Stith saw a fellow in a cheap black ninja getup about to clobber Gune with a freeze-dried fish. "Gune! Wake up!"  
  
The ninja had walked into a trap, however, as it snuck up on Gune it fractured a tiny little laser beam behind his chair. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a spring loaded mannequin's arm holding a putter. A prerecorded shout sounded, "FORE!"  
  
The gulf club arced through the air and bashed the ninja in the head so hard that it sent him flying into the dumb waiter shaft into the basement of Shipwreck's house. The other ninjas went into hiding.  
  
"Hmmm, there's something strange going on around here." Stith remarked as she woke up and grabbed one of her plasma rifles.  
  
"That's one person from Team A down." Ninja Leader remarked, "I wonder how much more those idiots could screw this up."  
  
He got his answer a few minutes later, when one of the other ninjas, a fellow known as the Rat because of his quickness and also because he was the sort that scared very easy sprang another weird trap. As he crept across the tile floor the pressure of his footsteps released a trigger. From the floor a giant clown head sprang up and laughed a prerecorded, "HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!"  
  
"YI!!!" Rat shouted and leaped into the air, only to run smack into the ceiling.  
  
"That's two ninja's down. Let's hope the third has the sense not to trigger any more traps...." Ninja Leader remarked.  
  
The third ninja on the ground floor tried to scale through the ventilation ducts, but as he grabbed the duct cover, he didn't realize that it was electrified.  
  
"BZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!" Ninja number three shouted as he got zapped.  
  
Ninja leader groaned from his position on the roof, "I hope the upstairs team has a little more luck...."  
  
As he said this he saw another of his team, a fellow named Baldy, sneaking around into what smelled like a baby's room. He picked up a little whiffle bat with teeth marks and drool on it. "Aww, isn't that cute, Shipwreck's got himself a little..."  
  
Baldy never finished that sentence because Barney bit him on the nose, "OWWW! Why you little...."  
  
"BAT!" Barney shouted and bashed the ninja on the head while mounting his shoulders. "BAT! BAT! BAT!"  
  
"AAAGGHHH!! Get this little devil off of me!!!!!" Baldy shouted, running around.  
  
"BAT! BAT! BAT!" Barney said, bonking him on the head.  
  
Baldy ran straight into the wall and lay on his back with Barney happily bouncing up and down on his massive gut like a trampoline.  
  
"Why did I quit a high paying job at Cyberdine as a computer engineer just to become a ninja again?" Baldy remarked.  
  
"BAT! BAT! BAT!" Barney shouted.  
  
"Four down, two more still up..." Ninja Leader remarked as one of the ninjas snuck into Shipwreck's bedroom.  
  
"AWK! Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" Polly shouted.  
  
"Shut up bird!" Shipwreck shouted, half asleep, "I was having a nice dream about Courtney..."  
  
"AWK!" Polly squawked again, "Ninja in the room!"  
  
"Stormshadow, what are you doing in here! You ruined a perfectly good...WHOA!!!" Shipwreck yelled when he saw the ninja holding a very large wooden mallet in his hands.  
  
"You're not Stormshadow!" Shipwreck yelled.  
  
"AWK! I told you so! AWK!" Polly remarked.  
  
"Hush you stupid bird!" Shipwreck remarked, "Yipe!"  
  
The ninja kept swinging the mallet at Shipwreck until Polly dive-bombed the ninja's belt and caused his pants to fall down, revealing a pair of white boxer shorts with hearts on them. Shipwreck knocked down the ninja and jumped back into his bed, little did he know that his mattress was now spring loaded until it launched him through about four walls into Cover Girl's room. He landed on top of her bed and in her arms.  
  
"Hector! What are you doing in here?" Cover Girl shouted.  
  
"Courtney! I can explain this all, hon. There was a ninja in my room and..." Shipwreck began.  
  
"I believe you! C'mon, we've got to find the kids!" Cover Girl began, then blushed, realizing she was wearing only a button down shirt that terminated at her upper thigh, "After I throw some pants on. Stop drooling!"  
  
"Courtney, these are my kids were talking about. If these monstrous morons even try anything, they're gonna have hell to pay!" Shipwreck growled, charging out of the room.  
  
"I don't think we're gonna have to worry about the kids too much." Cover Girl remarked.  
  
"Help! There's a dragon in that room!!!" a third ninja, wearing very thick glasses, shouted. Lockheed was chasing him around, spraying fire on his rear end.  
  
Stith came back up the stairs just then and headed to the room, "We've got intruders in the house Shipwreck. But I think you should know that because Gune booby-trapped the house in his sleep, they're pretty much handled."  
  
"Yeah, I know Gune booby trapped the house." Shipwreck said, indicating the Shipwreck-shaped holes in the wall, "How do you think I got here?"  
  
"Sneakiness and subterfuge." Cover Girl replied.  
  
"Hey!" Shipwreck remarked.  
  
The sounds and smells of electricity being discharged in Trinity's room clued the three adults in to what had happened. Two of the ninjas, Ninja Leader included, were strapped to gurneys with electrical wiring sticking off of their bodies at various angles.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Meanwhile, the three ninjas downstairs recovered from their shock and went to try and sneak up on Gune when he was still sleeping. They didn't count on running into two guys dressed in a very bizarre manner. One wore a pair of polarized sunglasses and a tie dyed headband and the other a cheap Mardi Gras mask. Both had towels around their necks.  
  
"Ta na na na na na na na na na na!!!! Batman!!!" Stoney and Morgan shouted as they clamored into the house.  
  
"Holy Masked Marvels Batman, Maleficent has sent three stupid ninja wannabes to invade Shipwreck's house!" Morgan said.  
  
"Let us deal with these Samurai Salad Brains Robin!" Stoney shouted.  
  
"Ta na na na na na na na na na! Batman!!!!" They shouted.  
  
"Ha ha ha! Look at these idiots!" Rat shouted, "They actually think they're Batman and Robin."  
  
Indeed, Stoney and Morgan were punching the air, as if punching through invisible badguys. "POW! WHACK!"  
  
"HURT!" the ninja with the frozen fish shouted as he bopped Stoney on the head.  
  
"Hah!" Morgan said, as he punched out the fish slinging ninja.  
  
"Holy Frozen Tuna Casserole Batman, are you alright?" Morgan asked.  
  
"Perfectly Robin, now lets clobber these other two ninja clowns." Stoney replied.  
  
"Ta na na na na na na na na na na na! Batman!" They shouted and proceeded to clobber the other two ninjas with ease.  
  
"LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!!!" Ninja Leader shouted, breaking free of his restraints. The other six ninjas followed, clothing torn, hair singed and bruises sustained from Gune's various traps.  
  
BOOM! The unmistakable sound of explosions sounding alerted Shipwreck that something was very wrong.  
  
"What on Earth was that? I didn't bury any dynamite in the backyard this week..." Shipwreck began.  
  
Laughing lightly, Cover Girl said, "Hector, I think that Gune must have put a minefield in your back yard in his sleep as well."  
  
"Oh, that's nice....HE DID WHAT!? ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT SHORT LITTLE ALIEN SCIENTIST PUT A MINEFIELD IN MY BACKYARD WHILE HE WAS SLEEPWALKING!!??" Shipwreck shouted.  
  
"Oh relax Shipwreck," Stith said, "It's not like your home wasn't free of explosions before we came here."  
  
"Please tell me I'm dreaming." Shipwreck groaned, "I'm gonna go call Tunnel Rat and get him to remove every single one of those mines out of my back yard."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Ta na na na na na na na na na na na! Batman!" came the shout, echoing from blocks away.  
  
"Oh Dear God!" Bilby groaned, "I think I know what just happened...."  
  
"Care to enlighten us?" Flint asked, just then, Stoney and Morgan came jogging by, wearing towels around their necks.  
  
"Holy Shakespearean Festivals Batman, reinforcements!" Morgan shouted.  
  
"Just in the nick of time Robin! Too bad Commissioner Gordon, we have driven the evil ninjas away!" Stoney replied, "No need to thank us, we're just doing our job."  
  
"Ta na na na na na na na na na na na na! Batman!" They shouted and ran off, smelling distinctly of liquor.  
  
"Bilby..." Flint began, sternly, but with a glint of mirth in his eyes, "You've got a lot of explaining to do."  
  
"Dear God of all the time for those two to get tanked, why tonight." Bilby began as they walked through the front lawn.  
  
From the window, Shipwreck shouted, "NO! NO! NO! DON'T WALK IN THE GRASS!"  
  
"Why not?" Flint replied.  
  
"LANDMINES!" Shipwreck shouted.  
  
"Shipwreck, for the last time, there are no landmines in your lawn!" Flint replied.  
  
"Uh, Dash, this is Shipwreck we're talking about, remember...." Lady Jaye remarked.  
  
"Allie, I'll prove once and for all there's no..." Flint began. BLAM! With all his clothing singed he fell over on his back and croaked, "...landmines."  
  
"You were saying." Lady Jaye replied, laughing because she was relieved that Flint was unharmed and also finding the current state of his clothing humorous.  
  
"Remind me to kill Shipwreck when I feel better." Flint replied.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
The evil sorceress named Maleficent trundled back out of her portal, and nearly got bowled over by seven screaming ninjas.  
  
"It figures, you want something done, you do it yourself..." Maleficent groaned and stepped right on top of a landmine.  
  
BOOM! The concussion hurled her back through the portal, into her lair, and caused her to destroy numerous pieces of equipment for alchemy and chaotic mayhem. Her cloak was burnt, her horns were bent, her staff was broken and her pale face was covered with dirt and black powder burns.  
  
"I hate my life." Maleficent groaned.  
  
"Not so easy to defeat, are they?" the mirror containing Ansem's disembodied spirit sounded.  
  
"Mirror mirror on the wall, shut the hell up, before I hit you with the wrecking ball!" Maleficent groaned and passed out.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Up next: Armand's search continues. Another mission. Another COBRA kingpin down, who shall it be...? 


	36. For He's A Jolly Good Fellow

For He's a Jolly Good Fellow...  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before. Warning, I wrote this on a caffeine high about five minutes ago.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Bilby rolled out from under the mosquito netting of his cot once more. The good dreams were worse as the nightmares, because he at least knew that the nightmare was reality. The good dreams were merely thoughts of what might have been, ones that meant he would sleep well, only to awaken with the knowledge that it wouldn't ever happen.  
  
The dream was always the same. The sunshine poked through the Venetian blinds of the window of the comfortable suburban house. Martin Bilby moved gently in his bed, trying not to rouse Akima, who was sleeping soundly beside him.  
  
It didn't work, she woke up anyway. She smiled at him, "It's beautiful isn't it?"  
  
"You know, in the years since I picked exile to this world, I haven't regretted it." Bilby replied, gazing at the verdant greenery of New Earth, the warm tropical sea that his backyard overlooked.  
  
"I haven't either." Akima replied, smiling back, nestling against his side.  
  
Bilby smiled contentedly, this was the only thing in the world he ever desired, a stable loving home, a simple existence, a life that flowed at an even, non-frantic pace. Well there was the wee bit of excitement that would befall New Earth occasionally, but other than that, nothing really ever happened.  
  
He could see a pod of bottlenose dolphin playing in a newly created reef. They had all been born and nurtured last year and they were growing well in their lagoon playground. The green of the palm trees in the back yard was particularly vibrant and despite last night's storm, everything was absolutely wonderful.  
  
Most beautiful was the house he and Akima had built since they had driven the Heartless of a year ago. In the backyard, Akima tended a small, but healthy garden. Bilby helped tend their tiny vegetable garden as well. They still had their jobs, Akima flying for the New Earth Defense Force and Bilby training their same force. Other than training and the occasional pirate attack, New Earth had few problems.  
  
It may have been an adjustment, living on a planet again for the Drifter Colony refugees now having a new home, but Martin Bilby, former member of the Gamma Unit, had helped them understand the basics of planetary living.  
  
He glanced at a picture on the table, it was a picture of Akima and himself at their wedding, six months ago. Outside several small children already were playing, carefree and innocent. Bilby propped himself up on his pillows to watch as Akima smiled at him, "So, Martin, what are you thinking?"  
  
"I'm thinking this is the best choice I ever made..." Bilby began.  
  
He always woke up after this part of the conversation. He always woke up to the dismal reality that New Earth was gone, its surviving residents scattered like the inhabitants of many worlds destroyed by the Heartless. He knew Akima was no longer living, and that lovely domestic scene he often dreamt of would not be his to live.  
  
Was this the sacrifice the old sage had mentioned? If it was, then where was that damned Keyblade. "Hey Bilby, we've got another flight!" Sergeant Aroza, Super Seven Four's junior crew chief shouted.  
  
Warrant Officer Peyton Farquahar, 1st Lieutenant Ray Granger, and Staff Sergeant Theodore L. Foresman, the senior crew chief, a short squat, chubby fellow from North Dakota, were preflighting the aircraft. About a dozen Rangers piled into the aircraft and Bilby was designated to provide eyes on target, basically dropping any moron with an RPG in Los Angeles trying to shoot down the Black Hawk.  
  
The Rangers were hooting and laughing excitedly. They loved these profile flights, gathering intelligence around Los Angeles for the next surprise Gamma Assault on COBRA positions. The Gamma snipers flying on the birds were less enthusiastic, but still vigilant. The last time a thug with an RPG tried to shoot down a Black Hawk he wound up being hit by three separate bullets from three different snipers. Mario, Shades, and Hedaya had all hit the same target from three different helicopters. The flight had ended, pretty much uneventful except for a single RPG gunner that Mario had nailed through the skull with a single round.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Guys, have you noticed Bilby's been looking a little down in the mouth lately?" Althea remarked.  
  
"Well duh, big sis, he just lost the woman of his dreams." Trinity remarked, the triplets had an annoying tendency to speak in unison lately.  
  
"I say we try and cheer him up." Tabitha said. She had begun hanging out with her former housemates more and more, while a lot of the other Institute kids hung out on their own. Multiple, Kitty, Kurt, and Bobby were sitting in the room as well.  
  
"There are plenty of healthy females of breeding age in the area, maybe we should put in a personals ad for Sergeant Bilby." Xi suggested.  
  
The room went dead silent for a long time of about a minute and a half and then was filled with tearing laughter. "Xi, sometimes you are a laugh riot." Lance said, wiping tears out of his eyes.  
  
"Yeah, moody Australian sniper, seeking woman." Fred replied, "That sounds like something Pietro would write."  
  
"Hey!" Pietro snapped.  
  
"No, seriously guys, what should we do?" Kitty asked.  
  
"We could hire strippers." Pietro remarked.  
  
"We'd be doing KP duty forever if we did that." Althea replied, "Besides, I've got a better idea."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Courtney, do you hear something strange?" Shipwreck asked as he walked downstairs, where Cover Girl was grading papers.  
  
"No, I don't hear anything. What's up?" Cover Girl replied.  
  
"The fact that nothing's exploded, caught fire, or otherwise been destroyed in the past hour." Shipwreck replied.  
  
"Hmm." Cover Girl remarked, "Come to think of it, you're right. The older X-men and most of the students are on a training exercise with Stith and Gune, the babies are sleeping, and the Misfits..."  
  
"They're supposed to be in here waiting for Roadblock and his Home Economics class." Shipwreck remarked.  
  
"Do you think those ninjas....?" Cover Girl remarked.  
  
"Courtney, seriously, those ninjas were morons through and through, they couldn't handle trying to sneak into the house a couple nights back." Shipwreck replied.  
  
"Hector, I'm serious." Cover Girl replied.  
  
The pair started to search through the house and saw that the babies were still sleeping soundly in their crib, but the kids were nowhere to be found. "Hector did you just see something moving outside this room?"  
  
"Courtney, it was probably just my stupid parrot again." Shipwreck remarked.  
  
"Awk! I've been in here the whole time! Awk!" Polly remarked.  
  
"Then that must mean..." Cover Girl remarked.  
  
"The ninjas..." Shipwreck replied, grabbing a pair of tiny cymbals he had bought for Claudius earlier that day.  
  
"Shh! Shipwreck, that ninja could be right outside the room." Cover Girl remarked, grabbing Barney's little whiffle bat.  
  
Shipwreck held his arms out as wide as he could, holding they cymbals at the moment a head poked around the corner. "Let him have it!" Cover Girl shouted.  
  
CLANG!!! The sound of cymbals crashing together with a head in between resounded throughout the house. Unfortunately that head belonged to none other than Roadblock who fell like a shotgunned bird to the ground.  
  
"Oh Shipwreck..." Roadblock began, "YOU ARE DEAD!!!"  
  
"Yikes!" Shipwreck shouted, running like a lunatic.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Bilby walked into the Misfit house, he was still down about that dream he'd had last night and part of this morning. He opened the door, rather surprised that he didn't hear explosions or fighting.  
  
He got an even bigger surprise when he walked into the living room. "SURPRISE!" all the Misfits shouted.  
  
"For he's a jolly good fellow! For he's a jolly good fellow! For he's a jolly good fell-ow! Which nobody can deny!" The kids all sang.  
  
"You kids are the best." Bilby said, grinning tiredly when suddenly the big banner they had made ripped in half as Shipwreck tore through it with Roadblock after him.  
  
"Come back here and be clobbered Shipwreck!" Roadblock shouted.  
  
"HELP!!!" Shipwreck shouted then he stopped, "Huh? Where have you kids been?"  
  
"We were planning a surprise for Bilby." Althea explained, matter of factly.  
  
"Some bozo here thought the ninja nincompoops abducted you. Excuse me while I turn him black and blue." Roadblock replied.  
  
"BAGGA WAGGA!" Claudius yelled in Cover Girls arms, banging a pair of tiny cymbals together.  
  
"Shipwreck, of all things, did you have to buy your kid a pair of cymbals!" Low Light yelled from an arm chair as he put down his novel.  
  
"They were on sale." Shipwreck shouted, "Sue me!"  
  
"I'll do worse than that!" Low Light shouted and tackled Shipwreck.  
  
Cover Girl and Roadblock watched the pair brawl on the living room floor, the Misfits all trying to give Bilby a group hug with Fred jumping in on the deal.  
  
"Courtney, why in Sam Hill did you start dating Shipwreck again?" Roadblock replied.  
  
"I don't know Marvin." Cover Girl began, not wanting to reveal what she knew about Shipwreck's sensitive side.  
  
Bilby's depressed mood seemed to have temporarily evaporated, "Blimey you chaps are a lot of fun."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
I know, kinda short, I'll meander back to the plot eventually, but what do you expect from a sugar high... 


	37. Saving Sergeant Kreiger

Saving Sergeant Kreiger  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before....L1701E, I can't update as often because school started last week. Feel free to create Recondo's encounter with the boys in your way.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Shipwreck, we'll let you know as soon as we find out." The chilling words ran through Shipwreck's brain as clear as they had been when Lady Jaye had told him six days ago.  
  
Cover Girl, or Courtney as he'd been calling her lately except when on duty, had been on a surveillance operation in Los Angeles when she had disappeared. He knew all too well how COBRA and the Heartless treated prisoners and the fact that Courtney was in enemy hands was enough to rend deep into his soul.  
  
He had requested straight from Hawk to go straight to Los Angeles on a solo op to go find her. Hawk's reply had been sympathetic but a denial nonetheless, "Hector, I need you to keep your head in this. I know Courtney's just fine; she probably had to lie low because of pursuit. I can't risk having two operatives lost in the field. Request denied."  
  
The bottle of tequila, the sixth one he'd drank in as many days, was half empty. Polly was sitting on his perch, being unusually quiet. The kids were all asleep, only Shipwreck wasn't getting any sleep.  
  
"Screw regs Hawk, Courtney's in trouble, I know it." Shipwreck said, as he threw on some nondescript civilian clothing and a tan trench coat.  
  
Shipwreck grabbed a 9mm Beretta sidearm and three loaded magazines. He felt an arm grab his right hand, he turned to see Chief Brewster, one of the four SEALs on the task force holding on to him.  
  
"Shipwreck, what in the hell are you doing?" Brewster asked.  
  
"Chief, something I need to do." Shipwreck replied.  
  
"Shipwreck, I know that losing Courtney...." Brewster began.  
  
"God damn it Chief!" Shipwreck practically shouted, "I have to do this."  
  
"Stand down sailor!" Brewster began, drawing himself to full height, though not tall in stature, Brewster was every bit the classic Chief Petty Officer. Hard as a rock, dedicated, and skilled at his trade, Brewster could easily switch moods from the normally good natured man to the hardened countenance of a veteran combat leader.  
  
The authority had its effect, "We're going with you, dummy, stay ready. I've got my three guys ready with the needed gear." Chief began, "Wait for us outside."  
  
Twenty minutes later a humvee pulled up, D'Artagnan, Wassner, and Scuttle all stepped out. Shades and Mario followed them. Bilby and Hedaya were also piling out.  
  
Shipwreck also saw Deep Six, Wet Suit, and Torpedo filing out. "Guys...." He began.  
  
"Shipwreck, Recondo and Cover Girl are missing in LA, our team mates. Hawk approved this op not more than an hour ago." Torpedo began, "Hedaya, Bilby, you guys provide sniper cover from the helicopter."  
  
Other than the sniper team consisting of Mario Juarez and Grover "Shades" Kiley, from the Gamma squadron, all the men on this operation were Navy men. All wore civilian clothes and in various bits of civilian luggage were their weapons and ammunition and other gear.  
  
Shades and Mario carried their rifles broken down in brief cases. They would reassemble the lethal tools of their trade when they reached Los Angeles. "Let's do this." Mario began grimly, the mirth normally part of his tone gone almost entirely.  
  
Shipwreck felt overwhelmed by the response of his team mates and the simple fact that they were going to help him on a dangerous operation. "So much for solo ops." Shipwreck remarked, "Let's do this."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
'God I hope Recondo got away.' Cover Girl fervently hoped. She was curled into a ball in the corner of a room in a house. It was one of those generic construction numbers, one of those stucco patterned project numbers that the zoning board turned up. Someone more erudite might call the crumbling pueblo façade house in the middle of the ghetto Southwestern architecture, but from what she saw through her blindfold, it was a dump.  
  
She had been here for what felt like an eternity, at least four days since she and Recondo had been reported missing. Those four days were a whirl of interrogations, mind games, and feverish delirium ever since one of the COBRAs had injected her with some green liquid in a syringe.  
  
The thing that was worst than the fever was the fact that one of the Heartless put a gun to her head the first night of captivity and squeezed the trigger. She felt her heart race and stop simultaneously, her life flashing for her before her eyes. The only regret she had was not telling Hector, or Shipwreck as she called him at work, how she really had felt about him sooner. This would really kill him, was her last thought before blackness claimed her.  
  
About a minute later she felt the splash of ice cold water on her face. She could hear Copperhead laughing, "Silly girl, that pistol wasn't even loaded."  
  
That night two Range Vipers held her down, forced her sleeve up and injected something into her. About an hour later she felt an unbelievable chill. Shivering didn't help much, if anything it caused the fever she was currently nursing. Even trying to stand up produced a wave of nausea and exhaustion. There was no way she could know that her captors were suffering as well until she could hear screams of pain and the sound of a body flopping across the floor. Through a small hole in the wall she could see one of the COBRA sponsored gang members that had captured her flopping like a fish out of water. Antennae were starting to grow out of his head, his eyes were glowing, his tattooed skin was starting to turn black and claws began to grow from his hand. After a few more convulsions, a Shadow Heartless stood in the place of a sixteen year old gang member.  
  
COBRA really showed who was in charge last night when Echevarra, the head of this gang of two bit drug pushers tried to be a gentleman and said that the virus injection was no way to treat a lady. He said it with a leering grin that left no illusion of chivalric leanings. Copperhead laughed and shot the boy, who was maybe twenty-three, through his head with a pistol. The Heartless had taken every weapon the gang had at its disposal and had them under tight supervision. When they pulled guard duty, they were armed, of course, but a single Heartless sniper had a telescopic rifle aimed directly at the sentry's heart should he try to rebel.  
  
"Vito!" yelled one of the gangsters at the Heartless drone. Suddenly he too screamed and convulsed as he clutched his chest, as the gruesome transformation took place.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Shit." Mario growled, as he kept his crosshairs on the stucco pueblo house. "More Heartless."  
  
Thanks to data from Recondo, whom the SEALs had rescued together with two Los Angeles teenagers, mutants named Paul and Craig, they were able to find the exact neighborhood where Cover Girl was being held. COBRA had been arming gangs that swore allegiance to it, and arming them with the latest weapons in LAPD arsenals to aid them in wiping out other rival gangs that had not done so.  
  
"Technical. Six O'Clock." Came Hedaya's voice over the radio. A low rider with a fifty caliber machinegun bolted to it drove not more than six feet away from where Shades and Mario had holed up in an abandoned house, their rifles aiming at the house directly in front.  
  
So far those two boys, Craig and Paul, had decided to head for the house, and pretend to join the gang. Already they were being led inside for their screening. Mario watched intently for the signal, which was Craig lighting a cigarette, to confirm the presence of the hostage.  
  
Already the SEALs and the Shipwreck's four man team were in position to storm the house from the back and through a side door. All they needed was a confirmation of Cover Girl's presence and hell would descend upon the COBRAs inside. Speed, surprise, and precision was the name of the game, or there would be more casualties.  
  
The distraction would commence when the cigarette was lit. Hedaya and Bilby would start shooting up the three technicals and the men in them a block away, making the enemy nervous, and then Mario and Shades would commence fire. As soon as the perimeter guards were neutralized, Shipwreck's team and the SEALs would jump right into the fray.  
  
Suddenly Shades tapped him on the back, "There's our viper."  
  
The plume of cigarette smoke was clear enough to be seen out the window. And as he saw it, Mario put a single round into the head of a COBRA viper standing outside the house. Shades squeezed off a second round into a Heartless drone. A gang member tried to run for it, only to be shot.  
  
"Sniper!" Shades shouted and turned his rifle towards a bushy tree in the lawn. In less than a second after aiming his telescopic CAR-15 rifle at the tree he squeezed the trigger and out fell a dead Heartless sniper.  
  
Elsewhere he could hear Bilby and Hedaya shooting up a couple technicals. Mario squeezed off another round that killed a fourth viper when Shipwreck's team hit the side of the house. The back was hit by the SEALs.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Armand D'Artagnan fired a shotgun round into the lock of the back door and kicked it down. Scuttle threw a flash grenade into the room, effectively blinding anyone in the room. A Heartless with an Uzi tried to fire only to be splattered across the wall by D'Artagnan's shotgun.  
  
"Clear!" Scuttle shouted, sweeping his MP-5 across his corner of the room.  
  
A short burst of gunfire sounded as Wassner killed a COBRA viper in a green mask and vest. Copperhead fell back, the blood that had been spurting from his nose from the flash grenade mingling with holes from a dozen rounds that had punctured his body.  
  
"Clear!" Wassner shouted.  
  
"Clear!" Armand shouted and then without skipping a beat, blasted the other door down with a third shotgun blast.  
  
Facing him was a sneering gang member determined to kill one of the invading bastards. A hole the size of a softball appeared in his chest as Armand shot him at point blank range. A second gang member raised his hands.  
  
"Down!" Wassner said, kicking him to the floor and flex cuffing him.  
  
Chief, standing behind Armand, tapped the Frenchman on the shoulder. Armand reloaded more shells before he took out another door. Scuttle threw another grenade and in three seconds they jumped into the room, shooting up two more Heartless that were foolish enough to resist.  
  
There was more shooting on the other side of the room as Shipwreck's team was starting to clear out the kitchen. Chief tapped Armand again and with another shotgun round, Armand knocked out the door lock with a cloud of razor edged steel fragments.  
  
Shipwreck was already clearing the living room when he heard the SEALs breaking in through the back. He saw a COBRA viper poke his head around the corner and he put two 9mm rounds through his skull. Deep Six was watching their backs, while Wetsuit and Torpedo were in the middle.  
  
A gang member with a MAC-10 popped out from behind the sink and squeezed the trigger on the weapon, pointing it at Chief. But the scared fifteen- year-old, dealing with an unfamiliar situation had not cocked the weapon. Chief put six rounds into the gangster, putting him down for good.  
  
Already he could see three more Heartless running from Armand's shotgun blasts that had already ripped one of their number in half in a shower of razor edged metal fragments.  
  
A half mutated COBRA viper stumbled out of the bathroom right into three rounds from Shipwreck's handgun. The Heartless, vipers, and gang members with enough sense to flee were being picked off by Mario and Shades, as well as from Hedaya and Bilby.  
  
There was one final room to clear and both teams took positions in case some vipers had holed up inside. Armand aimed his shotgun at the lock....  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
The shooting came so suddenly that despite her weakened state, Cover Girl ducked behind the mattress that was the room's only piece of furniture. She could see flashlights mounted on the end of weapons as a team burst into the room. The sound of a shotgun firing clued her in to what was about to happen. A flash grenade exploded in the room as she ducked her head, covered her ears and opened her mouth. The simple effort exhausted her as she shouted, "Friendlies!"  
  
"Clear!" Armand shouted, Chief behind him.  
  
"Courtney?" came a familiar shout. Weakly looking up, she could see Shipwreck running into the room, "Oh my God! What did they do to you?"  
  
"Get her out of here Shipwreck!" Chief shouted, "This is Red One! Need extraction, ASAP!"  
  
"This is Super Seven Four. You got it!" Peyton Farquahar's voice sounded as his UH-60 landed in the front lawn.  
  
Hedaya and Bilby had already taken positions and were steadily picking off any Heartless that was stupid enough to try and rush the bird. Shades and Mario were doing the same as Shipwreck tenderly bundled Cover Girl into the aircraft and his team boarded. The SEALs followed and the four snipers jumped aboard last. The helicopter took off and flew out beyond the radius of the teleportation shield COBRA had put up around Los Angeles.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
As soon as the helicopter landed, the two Air Force parajumpers as well as Lifeline, Bree, and Doc were all waiting by the ambulance. Shipwreck stubbornly refused to be separated as they wheeled the gurney through the sterile corridors of the Infirmary with Cover Girl barely clinging to life.  
  
A few hours later: "Hector." Lifeline began, "I've got her stabilized and the fever went down, she's still hovering at 99 degrees. But that virus is something I've never seen, save for in Mindbender's notes. There is a cure in it, but to find it I'm gonna have to ask the devil himself."  
  
As he spoke, he indicated a cryogenic storage container, an experimental device in which Mindbender slept in suspended animation, to delay this transformation from human into Heartless.  
  
"What else can you do?" Shipwreck asked Lifeline.  
  
"My healing touch could work, but I'm not so sure it would." Lifeline said.  
  
Shipwreck walked into the intensive care unit, the EKG attached to Courtney beeping steadily, her pulse was still steady. She was comatose, and had been for at least four hours. At least her pulse was stable, but it still pained him to see her in this state. Her skin was ashen and clammy, an IV protruded from her left arm, and the life support machine was helping her breathe. At least her temperature was being kept stable around 99 to 98.7 degrees.  
  
"Hector." Bree said, "Why don't you get some rest? We'll let you know if anything develops."  
  
"No, Bree." Shipwreck practically begged, "Let me stay. I need to be with her..."  
  
At the look in Shipwreck's eyes, Bree dropped the matter and said, "I'll bring a blanket and a pillow, that couch outside the door is pretty comfortable."  
  
Shipwreck could have been told the building was burning for all that he cared. Someone he cared for was in danger of death, and he could do nothing to help her. The answer lay with a man in stasis two stories down and the abilities of the GI Joe medical staff.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Will Cover Girl ever get out of that coma? Will Mindbender cooperate? Find out in the next chapter, to be posted (no promises, school work is a killer), next Saturday. 


	38. Comatose

Comatose  
  
Disclaimer: Same as beforehand. Sorry this one's so short, I kinda had to force a few ideas out. The Bard1's work, Flint's Journal, gave me the idea of the nine planes of Lady Jaye's rages.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Shipwreck woke up for the second time that week with a nightmare. The dream was the same as the previous time. The EKG that was monitoring Cover Girl's vitals suddenly beeped warning as her pulse rate suddenly flat lined. Lifeline came running, with Bree.  
  
After a couple compressions on her chest he shouted, "Clear!"  
  
The paddles jolted her with electric shock in an attempt to restart her heart. "No effect!" Bree shouted.  
  
"Epinephrine!" Lifeline called.  
  
Bree brought up a syringe which Lifeline injected directly into Cover Girl's heart. "No effect!" Bree replied, "Lifeline, we're losing her..."  
  
The beep dragged on forever, like life, never quite ending but still reaching the end nonetheless. He was still sleeping on the couch beside Courtney's bed, and had been for the past two days. He would go home to be with his kids during the day, and the kids were being unusually well behaved for the day, with maybe the occasional fire started or Beach Head gripe. And even Low Light, despite having lost to Shipwreck in the race for Courtney's heart, had been civil, showing an uncharacteristic display of sympathy.  
  
Again, after over forty-eight hours, averaging maybe three or four hours of sleep each night, he maintained his vigil. At least Hawk had been good enough to give him a three day pass. And this was the only three day pass in his long memory that Shipwreck did not go out in town and get himself royally plastered.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Lifeline felt pity for the deformed shell of a man sleeping the eternal sleep within the cryogenic chamber. It was strange, considering the occupant had ordered many deaths and caused several more through hideous experiments, the most recent of which being a virus that was ravaging one Courtney Krieger, codenamed Cover Girl.  
  
He had Flint, Roadblock, Professor Xavier, and Stormshadow behind him as he defrosted the chamber. Cryogenic stasis would have weakened any man, but to an already weakened Dr. Mindbender, it was even more debilitating.  
  
"Alpha waves fluctuating!" Bree shouted, "He's going into a coma!"  
  
Suddenly Mindbender's body convulsed and shook as it compressed to a smaller form. His skin began to turn as black as a shadow, claws began to appear at his hands and his feet began to grow long and black. Antennae began to grow from his head and as his eyes opened, they changed into a pair of slit-like yellow apertures. An animal roar of agony sounded through the cryogenic laboratory as a Heartless shadow stood where the man named Dr. Mindbender once had been convulsing in his final seconds of agony.  
  
Flint raised his weapon, but Lifeline knocked it down. "Xavier, see if you can't probe its thoughts!" Lifeline shouted.  
  
As Xavier attempted to enter the creature's brain, all he heard was a telepathic white noise followed by what could only be described as a gnawing and insatiable hunger. Mindbender had become little more than a Heartless drone who only knew violence and hunger for the heart of worlds. The overwhelming hunger and violence struck Xavier's mind in the same manner that a blow with a sledge hammer would affect a human.  
  
When Lifeline attempted to help Xavier, the drone attacked Flint, Stormshadow, and Roadblock and escaped out a window. Flint raised his sidearm to try and shoot it but before he could, a spray of black blood shot out from the creature where it's left eye had once been.  
  
From across the parade deck, Flint could see Bilby standing his lonely post atop the communication's shack, covering the Misfits who were taking a lesson from Dial Tone on communication systems.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Lifeline walked back into the ICU with a somber expression on his face. "Hector, I..."  
  
"Just tell me what it is." Shipwreck began, "I can take it."  
  
The man was clearly close to cracking, as evidenced by the look on his face. Ever since he and Courtney had gotten together he hadn't seen Hector X. Delgado any happier since he was with Mara.  
  
"I wasn't able to get any information from Mindbender. He turned into a Heartless before we could get any sort of information from him." Lifeline began, "I've got one other card to play, let's hope it works."  
  
Lifeline touched a hand to Cover Girl's brow and concentrated. His eyes closed as he sent healing energy coursing through her body. The effort was so intense, for the virus was so difficult to destroy, it was almost a malevolent entity bent on the death of its victim. Blood trickled from Lifeline's nose from the strain before he broke contact.  
  
"She's healed." Lifeline said, "But its all up to her now whether she gets out of that coma."  
  
Lifeline collapsed against the wall from exhaustion, feeling faint and dizzy. Bree ran to her husband, helping him out the door. "Rest dear. You've done your best."  
  
Roadblock, Low Light, the kids, and everyone else had just come in the room then. For the past couple of days, they too had been by Shipwreck's side, as he went through this vigil over the bed of the woman he loved. It was around midnight that night, when almost everyone was asleep that a miracle occurred.  
  
"Shipwreck." Low Light began, "I can't understand what exactly she sees in you, but....damn I'm no good at this, no hard feelings."  
  
"No hard feelings either buddy." Shipwreck said.  
  
"I mean, for the longest time I thought she liked me, but who am I to say that she has bad taste or not. After all, Courtney is a grown woman..."  
  
"I know that pal." Shipwreck replied.  
  
Little did either man realize that the subject of their conversation had just regained consciousness and was now watching them with open eyes.  
  
"Am I dreaming or did I just hear you two agree on something?" Cover Girl said, weakly, as she tried to sit up in bed.  
  
Both men turned suddenly, Shipwreck sporting a huge grin of surprise as if he had been told that he had just won the lotto and was set for life.  
  
"I'll go get Lifeline." Low Light began and walked out of the room, "And does that mean I can have that case of Corona down in your secret stash?"  
  
"Don't push it landlubber." Shipwreck replied.  
  
"Hector, be nice." Cover Girl remarked.  
  
"Fine, I'll give you half the case." Shipwreck remarked.  
  
Bree winked at him just then, "I've also helped set up a blind date for Low Light, Saturday night at 1900."  
  
Low Light was out of earshot just then, so he didn't hear Shipwreck's latest scheme in the making.  
  
"Who exactly are you trying to set Cooper up with?" Cover Girl asked, wincing as she tried to sit up.  
  
"Just lie down for now, I'll let you know after he's gone out." Bree said.  
  
"That means you, Mister, better get that on tape." Cover Girl grinned.  
  
"You got it." Shipwreck grinned.  
  
"Wait a minute? Dad? Cover Girl..." Althea began, "Low Light agreeing with my Dad about something...I must be dreaming."  
  
"Well, I'm gonna get ready and go film the magic of Low Light's first date." Shipwreck remarked, "Can I borrow your digital camera Althea?"  
  
"Just give us copies." Althea replied.  
  
"Let's make sure Courtney gets a copy too." Shipwreck replied, then blushed, he never used her real name around the kids.  
  
"Right dad." Althea grinned knowingly, with a slight wistfulness. She wanted her father to be happy, but already there were too many changes.  
  
"Hey, listen kid. I'll keep this going slow, I mean I just started dating Courtney a while ago. I don't wanna rush you guys into things before your ready. Trust me I'm not that stupid."  
  
"You're right Dad, you may be a dumb sailor, but you're my dumb sailor." Althea said, giving her father a hug.  
  
"Yeah, that's it...WAIT A MINUTE!!!!" Shipwreck shouted.  
  
"Shh! Not so loud, the lady is asleep! So from you two, not a peep." Roadblock said, indicating Cover Girl, who was soundly asleep in her sick bed.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Command Sergeant Major James Cavendish, the Gamma Squadron's Sergeant Major, watched with bemused detachment as he saw an extremely angry Lady Jaye storm into the elevator. He guessed correctly what exactly was bothering her. Flint.  
  
Cavendish was an older British gentleman in his late thirties who had served in the army since he was sixteen, almost all of his twenty-two year career having been spent in the Special Forces. He had a salt and pepper mustache to match his hair and a little baby fat creeping onto his normally muscular frame. He had begun as an Army Surveyor's Apprentice in the Corps of Engineers, and in fact the boys in the hangar used to shout, "Hey Cavendish, in the Corps of Engineers...."  
  
That usually got a piercing glare from the weathered old sergeant major. He was approaching the end of his career in the Army. This was his last mission, after which, he would retire to civilian life. In his time he had seen and done it all, which is why he regarded the fuming Corporal Alison Hart-Burnett with a knowing grin.  
  
She gave him a piercing glare that Flint would have classified as from the fifth plane of her temper. Cavendish felt a little bit shaken at first, seeing what Flint was subjected to, but after observing their relationship, he knew that this was something rare. Suddenly the elevator stopped to a halt, between the third and fourth floor.  
  
Lady Jaye muttered something about Flint yet again, something about his 'commitment phobia' and 'insensitive remarks'.  
  
"Lover's quarrel?" Cavendish began.  
  
"What's it to you?" Lady Jaye challenged, at first with a sharp tongue but then a subdued one when she realized Cavendish was a Command Sergeant Major.  
  
"You're absolutely right. Seeing it's none of my bloody business." Cavendish said, "However, I can't help but notice how much you and Flint compliment each other. And since we're stuck in this bloody elevator, you're pretty much a captive audience."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Sitting in the hospital lobby, Flint waited for the elevator to go down. "Damn it Alison, what's going on? You were supposed to be down here five minutes ago."  
  
Sitting a table away was Grinch, the crusty, crude but loveable Gamma veteran. "Alison eh? I thought you guys went by codenames."  
  
"We do but...?" Flint began, caught completely unaware by the grinning Gamma master sergeant sitting with his arms folded with half closed eyes and a trademark Robert DeNiro from Analyze That grin on his face.  
  
"You and Lady Jaye, I mean Alison, are an exception...." Grinch said, with that damnable Cheshire Cat grin.  
  
Flint felt his neck redden slightly as Grinch continued his words, "...I don't disagree with Hawk's interpretation of fraternization regulations, provided it doesn't interfere with your jobs sir. But what I believe you and Alison have is something without price."  
  
"And what is that?" Flint asked, feeling slightly nervous but not showing it, he had his standard arrogant expression on his face. He had the feeling that Grinch saw right through it.  
  
"Your relationship, while the two of you try to pretend not to be an item, is more valuable than anything." Grinch said, "It and other emotions help form the heart of a world and that is what the Heartless consume."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"So you're saying to be patient with Flint?" Lady Jaye asked Cavendish.  
  
"I'm saying that though he may say to keep it light there is more to it than that." Cavendish replied, "You know it, you just want confirmation. You can read that man like a book."  
  
Cavendish's insights into her soul were almost uncanny, "How did you...?"  
  
"Observation my dear, is an important part of intelligence." Cavendish began, and then grinned sadly, "And personal experience can also contribute a good deal."  
  
Before Lady Jaye could reply, Cavendish added, "She used to work with No. 372 Signals and Interpretation Squadron. They were our interpreters and did some of our tech support for our high tech surveillance operations. To make a long story short, boy meets girl, boy gets smitten by girl. For about two years we carried on a relationship of some sort. We were close friends, but I never told her how I felt."  
  
"So what happened to her, did she get married? Find another guy?" Lady Jaye asked.  
  
Cavendish again gave his cryptic sad grin, "She died years ago. I was on a mission and it turned out the Heartless were in the Amazon basin as a diversion. They really intended to attack us by raiding 372's old base in Dover, England. I remember cradling her in my arms as her life faded away before medical evacuation got anywhere near us."  
  
"So what I'm saying is, don't be afraid. Because you may think you have forever, but you may not, given the nature of your job." Cavendish replied. Just then the elevator started moving again.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"So what I'm saying is, don't be afraid to tell her." Grinch replied, "Because tomorrow you may not have."  
  
The elevator opened just then, and Grinch smiled, picked up his half empty bottle of Snapple, and walked off.  
  
"Alison." Flint began, "There's something I've been meaning to tell you..."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Up next: Lowlight's blind date, more training, and another mission. 


	39. Dreams and Visions

Dreams and Visions  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before. Sorry this one's so short. The next one will be slightly longer.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"The Guardian's strength must not fail him." The disembodied voice sounded.  
  
"What strength do you speak! I've made your damned sacrifice! What more could I possibly give!" Bilby shouted angrily.  
  
"You will know when the time comes." The voice replied.  
  
"Show yourself!" Bilby replied.  
  
The hooded figure, the same oracle that had mentioned prophesy time and again appeared before him. "Keep your distance or I'll send you back to hell spirit!" Bilby spat violently, "I have given all that I could and your damned Keyblade has not shown itself."  
  
"There is nothing of me to fear, Guardian, I am but a shadow of my former self. But a frail old man." The hooded one replied, "The sacrifice you must give is one of blood, is one that shall bring the Keyblade to bear. For the blood of heroes brings the Keyblade about."  
  
The oracle vanished as mysteriously as it appeared, leaving Bilby with a realization. The sacrifice the oracle meant had not been Akima at all, it very well could be his life or the lives of any one of his buddies in the hangar.  
  
He watched a couple Rangers walk by, walking roving patrols. He recognized Corporal Hector Illario, his old buddy from the 25th Infantry Division, and Sergeant Galen, the British soldier with a fiancé back home. He hoped the blood to be shed would not be either of those men.  
  
Looking up at the stars, removing his German field cap, he said, "If you will it, Lord, may the sacrifice be my own life and not those of the men I serve with."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Lance twitched and turned in his bed, the sheets tangling in twists. The vision before his eyes was one that was one of obvious strife. The field before him was a sparsely wooded area, the day damp and cloudy. The very air about him was full of tension about to explode outward in violence.  
  
"A great monarch now leads his people to freedom or to slaughter." The disembodied spirit said, "For to oppose the Heartless there can be only these two outcomes."  
  
Lance saw a line of archers standing behind a row of sharpened stakes. In front of them were lines of foot soldiers and mounted cavalry. Without question these warriors were men that looked nothing like the storybook knights he had read about occasionally. They were haggard men who had seen enough of war, but understood that the alternative to fighting was far worse.  
  
A man sitting upon his horse, he couldn't have been much older than his mid-twenties, who carried himself with a regal bearing, watched the mass of Heartless on the other end of the field. "As he pleases, let God dispose the day."  
  
With that a great clash of arms sounded and the sky turned black with arrows from the archers behind the stakes. The clash of arms sounded as steel struck steel and Heartless and human alike fought in the rain and mud.  
  
Lance watched as a Heartless knight's horse was shot out from under him and a foot soldier drove the sharpened end of a war hammer through the creature's eye. A Heartless drone impaled the foot soldier through the side with a pike, only to be decapitated by a human knight with a sword. At his feet Lance saw a human and a Heartless rolling through the mud, the human with a dagger, attempting to stab it into the creature's throat.  
  
Arrows rained down, cutting down many Heartless drones, and the black blood of the foe ran with the red blood of the men of this world, which Lance now knew as Rishii from the oracle. Lance felt a bump against him as a human soldier shoved a soldier Heartless' face into a pool of water until the creature drowned.  
  
A splash of hot liquid struck Lance across the face and he saw five Heartless ganging upon a single young warrior who fought like a lion, but was slain like a lamb at the butcher shop. As Lance watched the grim melee the king and several of his retainers happened upon the corpse.  
  
"Behold! The Duke of Parmas has fallen my liege!" shouted one of the warriors.  
  
"Let not his sacrifice be in vain, Earl of Condacin!" the king shouted, with a wild intensity that contrasted his calm manner before the start of the battle.  
  
The five men charged back into the fray, swords at the ready as they crashed into the tide of fighting humans and Heartless. Lance watched in amazement as the Heartless began to turn and flee from the tide of rallied humans. The Heartless fled with such terror that they left a number of their own, alive and helpless as overturned turtles on their backs because of their heavy armor.  
  
Archers and foot soldiers started to kill Heartless knights, responsible for destroying many towns and villages in this world, with long knives. Many cries of mercy from the Heartless went unanswered as the angry Rishiians, eager for vengeance, killed them. Lance turned his head away as he watched a Heartless knight, an arrow sticking out of its stomach, twitch it's head in a plea for mercy as an archer walked up to it.  
  
"Murdering bastard! When you sacked the town of Parmas, you showed no such mercy to my wife and child, and none shall be yours!" The archer sneered as he pulled a short sword from his belt and stabbed it deep into the creature's guts. The archer couldn't have been any older than twenty five, but his haunted face made him appear far older.  
  
Lance awoke in a cold sweat to find the hooded figure standing over his bed, "The men of Rishii resisted the Heartless. The time is near."  
  
"You've been saying that again and again! Still it hasn't come! Still my friends are in danger from the Heartless!" Lance railed.  
  
"The blood of heroes shed shall manifest the Keyblade. The sacrifice of a noble warrior will allow it to appear." The oracle said before disappearing.  
  
Lance saw Bilby walk by just at that moment, he was talking to one of the Rangers, the one with the wedding band. He felt a tear run down his cheek as he realized that it could be any one of the soldiers on the base, either those younger guys from Bilby's dimension, the more senior guys on the Gamma unit. Or it could even be one of the Joes.  
  
"Lance?" came a voice. He turned to see Kitty standing in the doorway arch, "Are you OK?"  
  
Lance desperately wanted to tell someone, anyone, how he felt. But how would he explain his dreams to Kitty, or even worse, the knowledge that one of the soldiers on the base, many of whom he looked up to as big brothers and father figures he never had growing up, would have to sacrifice himself to manifest the Keyblade.  
  
Kitty, sensing Lance's distress, put her arms gently around him, holding him firmly and gently. As he returned the embrace, Lance watched as a star in the sky blinking on the verge of going out forever, but instead of winking out, the star remained burning brightly. A world had successfully driven off the Heartless.  
  
Lance felt as secure as an infant in his cradle in Kitty's arms. He knew he wasn't going to let his world be consumed by the Heartless, with or without the Keyblade. As long as he, Lance Alvers remained alive he wasn't letting his friends and those who were practically family to him down.  
  
"Lance, I just want to let you know, we're all with you." Kitty said.  
  
Behind her, Xi, Fred, Toad, Althea, Wanda, and Pietro walked in, most of the X-men were away on a training mission, Kitty was staying behind at Spirit's insistence that her presence was helpful for Lance's morale.  
  
"We will stand by you Lance." Xi declared, "No matter what may befall us."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Bilby sat on a park bench somewhere near the infirmary. He saw Lady Jaye, working the late shift that night, walk by. "A lot on your mind?"  
  
"Kinda." Bilby replied.  
  
"You know, if I've learned anything from spending time on this base, its that no man is an island." Lady Jaye began.  
  
Bilby sighed and said, "There's a lot on my mind. I kind of feel like Achilles before he fell before the arrow of Paris."  
  
"Do tell?" Lady Jaye asked.  
  
"Another part of the prophesy, saying that the blood of heroes must be spilled for the Keyblade to manifest. I hope to God its not any of you, or my mates back at the hangar. Or God forbid one of Shipwreck's family. Even Beach Head doesn't deserve that fate." Bilby began.  
  
"But you do?" Lady Jaye asked.  
  
"I don't know. The oracle kept saying that I would make a great sacrifice to ensure the appearance of the Keyblade. I already feel like I have. Losing Akima not once but twice felt like my heart had been torn out and handed to me in a doggie bag." Bilby replied.  
  
"It's tough to lose people you love." Lady Jaye said.  
  
"My entire family was lost when Sapphire Bay was destroyed. My two little brothers, my parents, my grandparents. Akima was my last chance at a normal life and the Heartless took her away from me." Bilby groaned, bitterly.  
  
"Bilby, believe me, your life has value." Lady Jaye replied, "And don't make me call Psyche Out and wind up in therapy for a long time. Just let it out."  
  
"I've already given way to bloody much you bastard!" Bilby shouted into the heavens, "What more do you want!"  
  
Bilby heard nothing from his rant, but the breeze blew across the field and in the gust of wind, he swore he heard a faint reply, "When the time comes you will know."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Up next, some comic relief from Low Light's mystery date and Shipwreck's attempt to take care of Cover Girl during her recovery... 


	40. Breakfast and Blind Dates

Breakfast and Blind Dates  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before. Billy Joel owns the lyrics to We Didn't Start the Fire, not me. I kind of took creative license to Cover Girl's past. I borrowed the line "Who's your CO baby?" from one of Cover Girl's fics.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Althea Delgato rubbed sleep out her eyes and walked into the kitchen for a glass of milk. She could smell the faint odor of smoke as she walked down into the kitchen. She also smelled the distinct odor of food burning and as she walked into the kitchen, she could see thick smoke from the stove radiating into the lower floors of the house.  
  
"Awk! We didn't start the fire! Awk!" Polly began as Shipwreck grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher and sprayed the stove.  
  
"Oh shut up bird! Or for lunch there's gonna be stuffed parrot O'Grotton." Shipwreck shouted, swinging a rolling pin at Polly.  
  
Althea stepped into the kitchen to the sight of smoke billowing out the open windows and doors. She saw Shipwreck wearing a ratty old Kiss the Cook Apron and a chef's hat with Polly sitting on his shoulder making remarks.  
  
"Dad?" Althea asked, "What are you doing?"  
  
"Making breakfast in bed for Cover Girl and breakfast for all of you....OUCH!" Shipwreck said, as his hand brushed against the frying pan.  
  
There were pots and pans all around the kitchen, a huge saucepan contained what had to be at least three boxes of pancake mix in it. Shipwreck dumped the mixture into three large frying pans.  
  
"Dad, this is supposed to serve eight, with two each." Althea said, reading the label.  
  
"Nah, that's too much work, let's just make three big flapjacks and cut them into slices." Shipwreck replied.  
  
Barbeque came running through the door at that instant and shouted, "Where's the fire!?"  
  
"There's no fire, my Dad's cooking again." Althea remarked.  
  
"Well that's as good as a fire." Barbeque replied.  
  
"Laugh it up funny man." Shipwreck remarked, shooting Barbeque the finger, "For your information, before Althea and the kids were born I lived for two years on my own cooking."  
  
"Really? Falcon told me you lived on canned soup and waffles three meals a day." Althea remarked.  
  
Suddenly one of the frying pans containing flapjacks caught fire. "That was a faulty stove and you know it!" Shipwreck snapped.  
  
"Awk! We didn't start the fire! It was always burning since Shipwreck started cooking! Awk!" Polly remarked.  
  
"Shut your beak bird!" Shipwreck shouted, "Otherwise you're gonna see parrot under glass for dinner."  
  
"You wouldn't..." Polly remarked.  
  
"Why do you think I overfeed you..." Shipwreck shouted.  
  
"Awk! Call the humane society! Animal cruelty! Animal cruelty!" Polly shouted, flying upstairs.  
  
"Come back here you stupid bird!" Shipwreck shouted, waving a rolling pin.  
  
"Shipwreck! What's going on down there. People are sleeping, don't you care!" Roadblock said, coming out of his room.  
  
"Sorry." Shipwreck remarked, "AUGH! The flapjacks are on fire!!!!"  
  
Shipwreck ran downstairs as Barbeque doused the stove with a fire extinguisher. "Barbeque you landlubbing firefighting idiot! You ruined my breakfast!" Shipwreck shouted.  
  
"I saved your house!" Barbeque replied.  
  
"Well save your own hide!" Shipwreck shouted running after Barbeque with a frying pan.  
  
"Awk! Shipwreck versus Barbeque, Round One! Awk!" Polly squawked.  
  
"Barney," Roadblock said to the sleeping toddler, "I'm gonna borrow your whiffle bat right now..."  
  
"CUT IT OUT YOU MORONS!!!" Roadblock shouted, chasing Shipwreck and Barbeque around with the bat.  
  
"Thanks a lot bonehead! You ruined breakfast!" Shipwreck shouted.  
  
"It's a fire hazard, like any other time you cook!" Barbeque shouted.  
  
"Come back here you landlubber!" Shipwreck shouted, "Avast me harties, we're gonna flatten the landlubbing swine! Ha ha ha har!"  
  
"IF YOU DON'T KNOCK IT OFF I'LL CAVE YOUR SKULLS IN!!!!!" Roadblock shouted, waving Barney's whiffle bat like a charging Arabian marauder wields a scimitar.  
  
Cover Girl walked down the stairs that moment and saw the scene of chaos. Turning to Althea she said, "What's going on?"  
  
"Just Dad trying to cook breakfast." Althea remarked.  
  
"Oh boy." Cover Girl replied, "How long has he been at this?"  
  
"I don't know, I woke up half an hour ago and smelled smoke." Althea replied, then grimaced, "This was supposed to be a surprise for you."  
  
"It's kind of hard to sleep if you hear fighting and smell smoke." Cover Girl replied, then smiled, "Although you have to admit it was awfully sweet of him."  
  
Althea smiled knowingly, hiding her more than slight discomfort about this latest turn in her Dad's love life. At least Cover Girl wasn't some bimbo from any number of bars Shipwreck visited on a daily basis, though his barhopping was starting to get slightly reduced, much to Ace's amusement. But still, it felt kind of weird to see her father in love again. She couldn't help but be happy for him, but also felt the same way any daughter of a single parent feels when a new significant other moves into their parent's life.  
  
Sensing this, Cover Girl walked up to Althea and motioned her into the next room while Roadblock defused the situation between Barbeque and Shipwreck.  
  
"Althea?" Cover Girl said, "Look I know it's kind of weird to have me dating your dad."  
  
"You hit the nail on the head. I keep thinking that you're gonna replace our mom..." Althea said, she looked like she was about to cry.  
  
"Look," Cover Girl said, "I'm not trying to do that yet. I just started dating your Dad a few weeks ago. And believe me, I know that feeling. When my dad remarried when I was thirteen I felt like I couldn't trust the new lady that moved into my house."  
  
"You're not a new lady though. You live here, I've known you all my life, but still..." Althea replied.  
  
"You still miss your mother, I understand." Cover Girl said, "I was so awful to my step-mom for the first few months since she moved in that we hardly spoke. Afterward however, she took me out for a whole day and we talked about how I felt about this. You don't need to feel like you're betraying your mom by having me around. But for your sake, we'll take it slow for now."  
  
"Thanks." Althea said, as she hugged Cover Girl, who hugged her back.  
  
"Now we've got a blind date to fix up." Cover Girl grinned.  
  
"Who are we setting up, Bilby?" Althea asked, indicating the lone Australian sniper, who was busily cleaning his L1A1 sniper rifle on the table.  
  
"No, Low Light." Cover Girl replied.  
  
"Low Light? You're setting up Low Light with someone?" Althea grinned, with delight, "Ooh, who is it?"  
  
The phone rang just then, "I'm about to find out." Cover Girl replied.  
  
After she picked up the phone she smiled, "Why didn't I think of that before?"  
  
"Who is it?" Althea asked.  
  
"Ororo Monroe." Cover Girl replied.  
  
"Low Light's going on a date with Storm! Why didn't you say so!" Althea said and ran upstairs, "I'll get the others."  
  
"Excuse me, Sergeant Kreiger, is Bilby in?" said a Hispanic man with a weightlifter's build.  
  
"He's in the kitchen Sergeant Rossalvo." Cover Girl said, she remembered him from Bilby's many stories about his time in the 25th Infantry Division.  
  
The Ranger walked in and talked to the Australian for a moment and judging from Bilby's expression the news had to be something good. The normally somber Australian sniper was now grinning from ear to ear.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Hold still will you!" Cover Girl said.  
  
"OW! Gentle! That hurts!" Low Light shouted.  
  
"Well, I gotta admit Low Light, that new look is rather dashing." Shipwreck quipped from the other side of the room.  
  
"Ah shut up Shipwreck before I strangle you with this necktie." Low Light remarked.  
  
"Oh relax twinkle toes, after Cover Girl's finished with you, I've got teach you one or two dance steps..." Shipwreck remarked, "Hit it Courtney."  
  
Cover Girl stuck a CD into a nearby boom box and Shipwreck suddenly swept Low Light into a tango. "WHAT THE HELL! SHIPWRECK GET YOUR DIRTY PAWS OFF ME!"  
  
"Oh lighten up Betty Grable," Shipwreck quipped, "Someone's gotta teach you to tango."  
  
"Why you?" Low Light remarked.  
  
"Because Courtney's not exactly at her best and no one else is around." Shipwreck replied, with a mock French accent.  
  
Shipwreck dipped Low Light just then. "This is called a dip. Try to avoid stepping on someone's feet too often."  
  
Cover Girl chuckled at the sight of Low Light and Shipwreck dancing. Low Light's face wore a nervous expression with a bright crimson hue. "A one two, cha cha cha...." Shipwreck remarked, "Swing those hips."  
  
"What?!" Low Light replied. Shipwreck slapped the side of Low Light's hip.  
  
"You heard me. You gotta dance and move smooth with the ladies." Shipwreck replied, "Why do you think we sailors are so popular..."  
  
"Yeah, you can dance alright, what about when Storm electrified you." Low Light snapped.  
  
"Which time?" Cover Girl asked.  
  
"Courtney!" Shipwreck shouted, "Have mercy!"  
  
"I just hope no one's watching us." Low Light muttered.  
  
"Give me the binoculars Pietro." Wanda hissed.  
  
"You got this on tape?" Althea whispered.  
  
"Check." Toad replied.  
  
"Guys, what's that horrible smell?" Xi asked.  
  
"Eww! Blob did you just fart?" Lance asked, they were hiding in a stand of pachysandra bushes in a hill behind Shipwreck's house.  
  
"No." Blob replied, "I didn't eat any Mexican food today."  
  
"For once. After the Chilli Catastrophe, you'd think BA wouldn't serve that stuff anymore." Pietro replied.  
  
"Then what's that...?" Lance said, then turned around, answering his own question.  
  
"SKUNK!!!!!!!" They all shouted, "RUN!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
The Misfits all scrambled out of the bushes back over the hill, making a racket as they did so.  
  
Meanwhile in the upstairs bedroom Low Light asked, "Shipwreck, did you hear something?"  
  
"No, I didn't. Thanks for the dance Low Light." Shipwreck replied.  
  
"Shipwreck...." Low Light glowered.  
  
"OK sorry." Shipwreck said.  
  
The doorbell rang just then and Cover Girl said, "That must be your date."  
  
Cover Girl answered the door to find two young boys, one thirteen, the other eleven standing in front of it. The older boy had a curly mess of black hair atop his head that was heavily gelled, "Hi. Do you know if Sergeant Bilby lives here? He's our brother."  
  
"Come in." Cover Girl said, smiling, "He's on patrol right now, he'll be back in a few hours, so make yourselves at home."  
  
These two boys were Martin's kid brothers, the ones he thought were dead for five years. They were alive and well now, however. The older boy was Michael and the younger one was David. They had apparently survived the Heartless attack on Sapphire Bay.  
  
A car pulled up beside Shipwreck's house just then, "Low Light, your date's here."  
  
Ororo Monroe walked down the driveway, elegantly attired for the evening. Her silver hair was done up in a nice twist, making her seem taller. She wore an electric blue evening dress with heels to add further height.  
  
"So who's my date?" Ororo asked Cover Girl.  
  
Low Light walked down the stairs just then. He was wearing a black three piece suit, fairly loose fitting for comfort. He also had a light blue silk shirt and tie. He didn't have his characteristic red goggles and hat and his blonde hair was still in its curly state. At any rate, he looked different without his goggles and hat, less imposing and less intimidating. Good looking or even handsome would be helpful adjectives in this case.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"So what's the first event of the night?" Storm asked.  
  
"There's a comedy show at the Enlisted Club, then there's this place Flint recommended out in town..." Low Light began, sounding like a nervous school kid.  
  
Ororo slid an arm around his shoulders, saying with a smile, "Relax Low Light..."  
  
"Cooper, Cooper McBride." Low Light said, in his best James Bond impression.  
  
"You could give Sean Connery a run for his money with that." Ororo smiled.  
  
They sat down at a table just as the lights dimmed and onto the stage walked Sergeant Dominic Rossalvo, one of the Rangers in the Task Force. He was fast becoming a favorite around the base as he time and again outshone the resident comedians of the PIT.  
  
"Good evening." Rossalvo said, a heavy Jersey accent in his voice.  
  
As soon as he touched the cordless microphone he said in a perfect imitation of Duke as he walked up to Scarlett, "Who's your CO baby?"  
  
Scarlett blushed and smiled at the Ranger who grinned and walked through the tables. Dominic Rossalvo walked up to Flint and Lady Jaye's table and standing a few inches from Flint he switched his voice to that of a certain Eastern European temptress, "May I have this dance dahling?" Rossalvo remarked.  
  
Flint felt his neck redden as several Joes and members of the Task Force around him started laughing. For effect, Rossalvo practically marched Flint out of his chair and did a few dance steps.  
  
Lady Jaye was laughing at Flint's expense. "To be fair to the warrant officer, let him choose the next victim..." Rossalvo remarked.  
  
"That's a tough one. But I've got a challenge for you, keep doing impersonations as I give you clues." Flint said, "Sergeant Rossalvo, I'm thinking of a certain masked fellow..."  
  
"Destro this is all your fault!!!" Rossalvo shouted, in his best COBRA Commander impersonation.  
  
"Not even close. This person wears green, and sleeps with a teddy bear...."  
  
"You call this military discipline? Cross Country's puttin' a tape deck in his HAVOC." Rossalvo said with his best Beach Head impersonation.  
  
"Hey how about do a Wild Bill?" Bazooka shouted.  
  
"Oh the Yellow Rose of Texas..." Rossalvo said, in a near perfect expression.  
  
"I do not sound like that. I don't sing that badly off key." Wild Bill protested.  
  
Half a dozen Joes rolled their eyes as Wild Bill continued to protest, "Hey I don't sound like that."  
  
"Oh yes you do." Rossalvo remarked.  
  
BA walked through the club in a maitre de outfit pushing a cart with a heaping soufflé on it. Low Light went pale just when he saw it. "Oh no." he moaned.  
  
"What is it?" Ororo asked.  
  
"That looks like BA Soufflé a La Flambé." Low Light remarked.  
  
As BA touched a lighter to the candle in the soufflé the mixture exploded all over the Enlisted Club.  
  
"BA!!!" Low Light shouted and tackled the addlebrained chef around the waist, he started to raise his fist to pummel the chef.  
  
Ororo yanked Low Light off BA as they walked outside. "Look, I'm sorry this date went to hell before it even got started."  
  
He was greatly surprised when Ororo laughed and said, "I've been living in the mansion too long. That explosion was nothing compared to the ones that the Misfits make. Or the X-men for that matter."  
  
"You mean you're enjoying tonight." Low Light replied, "Even with the insanity that's been going on."  
  
"Well, I'm not sure we can go out into the town like this." Ororo said, indicating the globs of soufflé all over them as they walked back to Shipwreck's house.  
  
"So what do you want to do?" Low Light asked.  
  
"Well we could go dancing..." Ororo mentioned.  
  
"Without any music?" Low Light said, curious.  
  
"I never said without music." Ororo replied, and popped a CD into the player in her car.  
  
The pair danced the night away on the front lawn.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Well I do admit this was one of Bree's smarter ideas." Shipwreck remarked as he watched the scene from one of the upstairs windows.  
  
"That was awfully sweet of you, teaching Low Light to dance." Cover Girl smiled.  
  
"I just didn't wanna get him electrocuted by Storm for some reason." Shipwreck replied.  
  
"If I recall, you were the one who has this unhealthy fascination with electricity." Cover Girl replied, "There was the Hawaiian incident..."  
  
"Courtney..." Shipwreck groaned.  
  
"Then the human lightning rod incident...." Cover Girl continued.  
  
"Awk! Let's not forget all the times he visited the X-mansion! Awk!" Polly squawked.  
  
"You're dead bird!!!!!" Shipwreck shouted as he chased Polly through the house.  
  
Cover Girl smiled to herself, "I must be going crazy, because this place is starting to feel like home."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Up next: Some more missions. Random fluff. And who knows what. Tune in next week fans for the next installation of Kilo Two Zero. 


	41. Zarana Defects

Zarana Defects  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before. I made up Mainframe being a Catholic school kid.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
If Cobra Commander could describe how he felt about his current ownership of Los Angeles, he would say he hated it. Why? Though the Heartless helped him take over and virtually own the city, at any time, night or day, GI Joe and its new allies could take down any building within three minutes and abduct any one of his key agents. Mindbender was confirmed dead, finally having transformed into a Heartless and been shot trying to leave the Pit. Adding to that list, Buzzer, Torch and Monkeywrench were reported as captured.  
  
COBRA agents were forced to lie low, moving only at night, communicating only on cellular phones or in very short radio transmissions. They had no idea that GI Joe had a trump card on them. Thanks to General Metzger, head of the task force that another dimension had sent to help against the Heartless, several sophisticated electronic surveillance packages were put into many of the Black Hawk helicopters so that on surveillance flights, electronic communications could be triangulated and within minutes the Gamma assault teams would descend like a swift sword of wrath upon the origin of the transmission.  
  
Cobra Commander's cell phone rang and he picked it up, "Yes."  
  
"This is Copperhead, Columbian operation complete."  
  
Copperhead was referring to COBRA arming the various city gangs that swore loyalty to the organization. The most powerful gangs were armed with weapons from the LAPD arsenals or from COBRA's own vast stockpile and then set loose against their less powerful rivals.  
  
Neither Cobra Commander nor Copperhead knew that that brief transmission had already been triangulated and that even now a phalanx of Black Hawk and Little Bird helicopters was flying right toward Copperhead's South Central Los Angeles safe house.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
'Let's hope another chopper doesn't go down.' Thought Staff Sergeant Kevin 'Dr. Kay' Wells, one of the Air Force Pararescuemen assigned to the Task Force. His excellent lifesaving skills had already been put to the test once during this deployment when COBRA shot down a news helicopter. He and his team leader, Technical Sergeant Henry Horvath, had fast roped in while a team of Rangers and Gamma assault troops formed a perimeter around the downed civilian helicopters.  
  
Pararescuemen like 'Dr. Kay' were often called upon whenever an aircraft went down to render lifesaving medical treatment and help the downed aircrew back into friendly territory. Kevin Wells enlisted in the US Air Force eight years ago, after finishing his sports medicine degree at Florida State University. He knew straight away that Pararescue was what he wanted to do after he had lost a friend in a plane crash during his senior year of high school. He was a slim, compact African American with a shaved head and a joker's disposition, but here he was all business, because he knew at any moment, the Black Hawk designated Super Eight Two might have to deploy its rescue unit to save the lives of survivors around a US Army crash site.  
  
Henry Horvath tapped him on the shoulder and pointed. Already the MH-6 Little Birds had broken away from the phalanx and headed toward the safe house. The ground convoy was already at its staging area to pull out the Rangers and Gamma assault team. After the Black Hawk helicopters dropped their Ranger chalks and additional Gamma Unit reinforcements, four of them would fly over the target building, providing sniper cover for the operation.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Falcon watched, fascinated as a dozen Rangers quickly rappelled to the street corner and started to set up their blocking position. Beside him was Shades, or Specialist Grover Kiley, Gamma Unit. After having finished at the US Army sniper school in Fort Bragg, he was assigned to shore up the Gamma Unit snipers in the joint operations against COBRA. He and Low Light were in the helicopters, providing sniper cover while Lady Jaye, Flint, Leatherneck and Wetsuit were with the ground convoy.  
  
Four sniper teams had the Task Force covered. In addition to Falcon and Shades, the teams consisting of Low Light and David Falk, Jose Hedaya and Martin Bilby, and Mario Juarez and Low Light were deployed.  
  
Before the Rangers had created their perimeter the initial Gamma assault began. In teams of four the Gamma unit hit the target house at various strategic points. It was a large, two story building that was practically a fortress with armed guards all around. The COBRA agents were always rather nasty when cornered.  
  
Captain Fetterman was leading the first assault team, coming in through the skylight with Dave Morgan, Stoney Brown and Link Chumovsky. Grinch had assault team two with Rumpler, Leroy Hoffman, and Mark Lazio going through the front door. Hitting through the back door was Cavendish's team. Two of the sniper teams were guarding the back exit way. Martin Bilby and Jose Hedaya were across the street, hidden behind a lot of clutter atop a hill overlooking the house's back yard. Low Light and Mario were on the other side of the house, covering part of the front in case anyone tried to mouse hole out of the building.  
  
The noise and shooting was intense, even from almost 500 meters away. Martin Bilby wondered what it must be like inside for both the Gamma Assaulters and the Heartless and COBRA troops within.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Copperhead staggered back as he blinked his eyes. All he could see were weird spackles and shapes, he couldn't focus on anything. He could hear shooting going on inside the safe house, as doors were being kicked down and flashbang grenades (stun grenades) were being thrown into rooms.  
  
The two Crimson Guard vipers that had been with him raised their AK-47s to fire at the Gamma Assaulters coming in through the back door. However, Gamma shot them both first.  
  
Cavendish breathed hard as he charged through the first floor of the house, careful not to get in the way of Grinch's team which was running upstairs to help Fetterman's team control the upstairs, leaving Cavendish to secure the first floor and trusting the four snipers to guard his back. His faith in them wasn't misplaced, as he heard two rifle shots sounding from where Low Light and Mario were hidden. He heard another succession of rapid shots coming from both sniper hides as he cleared the kitchen out, his CAR-15 held at the ready, his Colt 1911A1 pistol ready for instant deployment if his rifle failed to work.  
  
"Friendlies!" came a familiar shout. The shout belonged to First Sergeant Phillip Twofeathers, the 'Grand Old Man' of the squadron. He was a Hopi Indian from Flagstaff Arizona who the current rumor mill of C Squadron said was due to replace Cavendish after his planned retirement.  
  
Cavendish saw the cinnabar skinned man in desert fatigues and wearing the small black Pro-Tec helmet that Gamma assault troops often wore. Because of the close quarter nature of the assaulters trade a key concern was avoid bumping their heads as opposed to taking a round in the head. The two Black Hawk helicopters, each carrying a dozen more Gamma assaulters had already dropped off their cargos into the front and back yards. The men fanned out, going into the house and trusting the snipers to watch their backs.  
  
Already Cavendish could hear more shots coming from the two sniper hides. The shooting was slow at first, maybe one or two shots coming from Bilby and Hedaya, who were holed up in a rubbish heap atop a slight rise behind the house 500 meters away. Then it started to get more intense as the snipers started ripping into a large group of thugs attempting to rush the Gamma assaulters.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Copperhead and about a dozen half blinded COBRA and Heartless troops had taken cover deeper inside the house in the upstairs area. The attic was out of the question because the Gamma assault teams had come in through it. The staircase was also firmly in Gamma hands.  
  
Fetterman squeezed the trigger on two Heartless drones that popped out of the bathroom with KF-7 assault rifles. Both fell dead instantly. Stoney kicked down a door and surprised a stunned Crimson Guard that had been shocked badly by the stun grenades. With a solid kick he knocked the man over and cuffed his hands with a set of plastic binders. Prisoners talked a lot more than corpses, as any Special Forces soldier knows, so the capture of live enemies was always a high priority.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Copperhead could hear the few remaining vipers and Heartless being killed outside the room he had holed up in. He cocked the lever on the MAC-10 machine pistols he had in each hand, determined to die fighting if he had to. He could see somewhat blurrily, that concussion grenade had done a number on his hearing and sight. He could only see shapes and shadows; he had taken the brunt of the flash grenades.  
  
He heard the door being kicked down and fired a blind burst of gunfire, hoping to hit one of those Gamma bastards that had jumped inside. Instead he saw two silver flashes that blinded him completely. Firing wildly he was determined to die fighting if he had to.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Sir! He's outta ammo!" Link shouted as he ran inside the door that he had taken out with a shotgun round, "I'm going in!"  
  
"Stoney, cover him! I'm gonna clear this corridor, Morgan you're with me!" Fetterman shouted.  
  
Copperhead tried to resist again but he was instantly flipped over with a kick to the bend of his knees by Stoney. "That's for the interrogations you bastard." Stoney growled.  
  
He and Link flex cuffed Copperhead and dragged him out of the room. "Clear!" they shouted.  
  
Fetterman turned to run with his men down the stairs to evacuate with their prisoners when a Soldier Heartless with an RPK machinegun appeared right in front of them, ready to empty the entire 200 round belt into the four men. Instead of a hail of bullets a spray of black blood struck Fetterman. The Heartless fell with a bullet through its head. He could see Sergeant Mario Juarez with his telescope sighted M-14 in the abandoned building across the street.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
As the Task Force headed back to the base with their cargo of four prisoners Mainframe walked into a small café in town. He had the day off, and he intended to use that to his fullest advantage. He signed into AIM at a designated time, waiting for one particular person in cyberspace to meet him.  
  
The AIM icon flashed orange and Mainframe accessed it. The message read, "Were you followed?"  
  
"No." Mainframe typed.  
  
"Good. I fear there's something I need to tell you." The person on the other end replied.  
  
"What is it?" Mainframe said, or rather typed.  
  
"I can't say anymore, for I may not know much, but I know too much. Meet me f2f. ("  
  
"You got it. ;)" Mainframe typed, "Where are you?"  
  
"A place my family would never be caught dead in. A place of song, of sadness, and of happiness." The cryptic reply came, "Meet me in half an hour. 3223"  
  
Mainframe knew he had half an hour to figure out what Zarana was trying to tell him. Their meetings were always secretive, usually started online and occasionally face to face encounters followed. When one is in love with a member of the other side, precautions must be taken, and Mainframe and Zarana's fragile relationship was no exception.  
  
As Zarana logged off, Mainframe realized he had half an hour to figure out what she meant. "Hmm. A place Zartan would never be caught in. A theater? Nah, that's too obvious, too crowded."  
  
Mainframe thought again, "C'mon Blaine think, think. What could she possibly mean? Zartan doesn't hate theaters. That's the key. Think of songs. A radio station. Nah."  
  
"A classical music conference? No, it can't be. She'd stick out like a sore thumb." Mainframe thought, "Sadness. A funeral home? Well I can't see anyone happy there unless there was an Irish wake or this person really hated the deceased. Four Weddings and a Funeral."  
  
"Wait a minute!" Mainframe thought, "Weddings = happiness! Funerals = sadness! What do these have in common. They happen at a church! 3223 = St. George's Catholic Church at 32nd and 23rd Street! Perfect! Zartan wouldn't be caught dead in a church."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Mainframe walked into the church. A Catholic nun walked up to him at that moment. "May I help you my son." The stooped elderly sister said.  
  
"Uh, no sister. I'm waiting for someone here." Mainframe said, subconsciously rubbing his knuckles. He had remembered the Carmalite nuns whacking him there with rulers throughout grade school. He often liked to tell Dial Tone that it made boot camp seem like cake. He said, "I'd take a drill sergeant over a pissed of Carmalite nun any day of the week."  
  
"We are all brothers and sisters in Christ, child. Who is it whom you wait for?" the nun asked.  
  
Taken aback, Mainframe replied, "Well, she's a woman I'm romantically involved with, but neither of our parents approve of our relationship. She wanted to meet me here five minutes ago. She's late."  
  
The nun replied, "No Blaine, she's been here the entire time."  
  
Zarana shed her costume and said, "Blaine, listen to me. Magneto's returned, and he's allied himself with Maleficent and COBRA Commander. I no longer feel safe at COBRA. I seek sanctuary.  
  
"I'll work something out..." Mainframe said, as they walked to his car, thinking, 'How am I gonna explain this one.'  
  
His concerns were further validated when he went on base and as he passed the hangar, he saw Zarana receive hostile glares from his fellow Joes, but the most hostile from the original members of Kilo Two Zero. Particularly Sergeant Bilby.  
  
"You took part in interrogating my best friend." Bilby growled at Zarana, "What the hell are you doing here?"  
  
"You're all in terrible danger! I came to warn you! And you showed my brother no mercy!" Zarana snapped.  
  
"What?" Mainframe asked.  
  
Zarana recognized the German Army field cap Bilby wore, "You shot my brother."  
  
"He tried to kill me. Remember Andrew Whitehurst." Bilby replied sharply and transfixed Zarana with a glare as hard a steel.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Up next: Magneto joins the fray. Maleficent schemes some more. And more missions are planned and executed against COBRA and the Heartless. 


End file.
